Green Light
by harlemSdawn
Summary: Jack, Gwen and Ianto keep with the work in Torchwood while the Doctor goes on traveling. But something will draw them all together as an old member plans his revenge over the Torchwood team. With the TARDIS gone what can the Doctor do to save the Earth?
1. No problems

**As you can see, I am new to Fanfiction, and would really love your advices.**

**To the Torchwood readers, this story is just after season 2's last episode, a few days after Owen and Toshiko died. To the Doctor who readers, this story is after Donna was 'forced' to leave the TARDIS. And to both readers: I hope you like this story.**

**Unfortunately, I don't own Doctor who or Torchwood, which is a bother. I'll be waiting for your reviews!**

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**Torchwood Hub_10th July, Friday, 22:58 pm**

'Gwen, turn left at the next traffic lights.'

Gwen ran to her left when she got to the traffic lights and saw the big man-like alien running away from her. With a strange shape for its head: little eyes blinking in its face, a pig nose just under them, ears replaced by holes punched in either side of the face, and a mouth showing its carnivorous teeth.

'I'm behind the Weevil!' shouted Gwen to her ear comm. She reached for her revolver in her hips but it wasn't there. 'Shoot! My revolver dropped in the Hub!'

'Well done anyway.' said a voice in her ear. 'Jack, don't follow Gwen's trace.'

Jack stopped running. He could see Gwen getting more far and far away from him as he gasped for air.

'Go to your right and keep on; at the third street, turn to your left.' Pause. 'I think.'

'Right, smartass,' said Jack on his ear comm. 'You better get it right. 'Cause that doesn't sound as much reassuring as you sounded last time.'

'Aye-aye, Captain! Just keep your Webley in hand.'

Jack started to run as he took his weapon out, following the instructions he'd been given.

'Jack, you should hurry up.' Gwen's voice cracked in Jack's ear. 'The Weevil is tiring me and you seem to be real slow. I can't even see you behind me.'

Jack turned left in the third street and saw the Weevil. He raised his Webley and pulled the trigger, shooting the Weevil in the leg. The Weevil fell on its talons and lay down on the ground in front of him. Gwen appeared in the direction the Weevil came from. She shook her head as she watched Jack laughing at her surprise.

'Good thinking!' she said touching her ear comm.

Jack did the same. 'We couldn't have done it without you. Good going.'

In the Hub, in the once Toshiko's workstation, a boy sat down holding his ear comm. He was red headed, green eyes and pale of skin. He smiled malevolently to himself and looked up to the screens, where plans of the rift manipulator were on.

'My pleasure, Jack,' Adam said.

**One day ago…**


	2. No one

_It's been a year since. And it still haunts us all. We have been trying to forget about it for just one moment. But it's too hard for any of us to just put aside their memory. And I just don't want to forget._

_They've been good. They saved the world. More than once. More than twice. And no one but us knows they have done it again. Because they have been taking care of humanity from countless of threats, trying to take control over our nation. And they are gone._

_They are gone and will never come back. Because all the loneliness they felt, all the secrecy, all the things they had to hide from their people, it was worth it for them. And it's all gone now._

_And there won't be anyone to miss them in this world. No family that will mourn for their deaths. No boyfriends or girlfriends asking their whereabouts. No one to request why they died. Nobody to go to the police station and demand action. No one will remember. Except for us._

**Torchwood, Cardiff, Wales_9****th ****July, Thursday, 20:15 p.m.**

They sat there, at the Torchwood Hub. Mute words passed through the room, soundless, but they all knew what they were. Words that didn't need to be said. Words that brought that memory back. All the time. Over and over again.

Gwen Cooper run through the Torchwood Files on Owen's computer and couldn't say a word. Ianto Jones didn't ask anyone if they wanted a coffee, as he usually did. Captain Jack Harkness, just listening to the silence, lost in thought. Until Ianto finally decided to ask:

'A coffee, anyone?'

Gwen turned around, shook her head and gave a good smile, hiding her grief. Jack turned to Ianto and smiled back, he didn't answer though. Ianto turned to the coffee machine and started to fiddle with it.

'It's eight already,' Jack mentioned.

'Quarter past,' Gwen corrected.

'Shouldn't you be going now?' he asked, turning from Gwen to Ianto. 'I mean, like go have dinner?'

But he knew he wouldn't be getting any answers. They had too much going on, and he thought of what had happened before was too much for them to feel like going home. But they had lives for themselves, while he didn't have anywhere to go. And he wanted them to live their lives as much as possible.

'Well, then.' He stood up, giving a big smile. 'Fancy a new restaurant?'

**Angel's Icon, Cardiff, Wales_9****th**** July, Thursday, 20:33 p.m.**

'Spaghetti Bolognese, for all,' Jack said to the waitress.

She walked away, looking back at times. Angel's Icon was new. Italian. And very expensive. But it was just over the corner near the Hub, so it was worth the trip. He looked over his companions. Ianto and Gwen hadn't said anything since they got there. He leaned over closer to them. 'So, how's life going?' Their faces, just blank. 'I mean like… your ordinary… well… your personal life… I mean, like, at home?'

'Pretty good,' answered Ianto.

'Not bad,' Gwen said.

It wasn't big conversation, but it was a good start. 'So, then, getting along pretty good with Rhys still?'

'Fine,' Gwen replied, murmuring a 'why wouldn't it be?' not loud enough for him to hear.

'And you?' to Ianto.

'I don't have a husband,' he simply said.

'I meant, how's your life going?' he said.

'Good.'

It was harder than he had expected. He had thought that maybe… he might have been able to lighten things up. But now that they were there… The waitress came with three plates of Spaghetti Bolognese, putting them on their table while giving Jack a cheeky smile.

'Could you bring us some wine?' asked Jack to the waitress, giving a smile back.

'You bet ya!' And she walked off again, exaggerating her stride.

'Right!' he exclaimed, too loud. 'Let's lighten things up!'

**Some time later…**

People turned around or just looked over their shoulders to stare at the happy trio laughing like crazy. Too loud. Jack, Gwen and Ianto didn't care though.

'…and remember the time,' Gwen laughed, 'when we waited for you out at the Water Tower and you appeared from the brick all filled with Pterodactyl pooh…'

'That is not true!' exclaimed Ianto laughing.

'It so was!' Jack snickered. 'But I remember seeing Gwen on the CCTV one time doing the chicken dance in public just by the park.'

'That is fantasy!' Gwen said. 'Why would you even put a camera on the park?'

'Oh, if you would ever have seen all the recordings I keep with you making a fool of yourself.'

'Even fact or fiction.' Ianto waved his glass, spilling wine everywhere, 'I've seen the recordings myself, so don't say no to me if I want to make fun of you.'

'I don't care if you make fun of me so as you believe me that I've never danced chicken ever in my life!'

They all laughed. 'I wish Owen and Toshiko had seen them,' Jack said. 'The fun they would have had.'

Jack laughed turning to his friends. But they had stopped laughing and the smiles were replaced by melancholy. Jack cursed himself for mentioning them. The mood had been so good until the point he had to say anything about Owen and Toshiko. Gwen stood up.

'Where're you going?' asked Jack, trying to keep the mood up.

'Sorry, I promised Rhys I would be back before ten,' she apologized again before swiping away swiftly.

Jack turned to look at Ianto. 'Well, then.' Ianto didn't meet his eyes. 'It's only me and you, then.'

'Actually…' Ianto stood up as he continued his sentence, 'I was gonna say the same…'

'What?' Jack cried out. 'Don't tell me you have a husband too!'

'No… I have to go.'

The words got Jack by surprise. 'Oh,' he mouthed. 'Go on, then.'

And Ianto was gone too.

And Jack was all by himself.

**Torchwood Hub_9****th**** July, Thursday, 21:58 p.m.**

He had always been alone since he lost two years of his memory. But he had grown used to the loneliness. And he knew someone that was more alone than he ever had been. And that someone had lost so many, that he couldn't argue about who was the loneliest of both. He knew the Doctor became even lonelier each time he got a new companion, and he knew how it felt like. He had too lost many, as the Doctor did. And all those feelings the Doctor passed through, he could feel too.

He had seen life pass by and let it go as it was. He had seen people being slaughtered; he knew how their relatives reacted at the thought. And he couldn't bare it. All he could do was pretend. Pretend to be alright. Pretend as if… he could go on. But no. He couldn't. As his companions couldn't either. So many deaths. Too much secrecy. All the life they had to see lost.

He looked up at the ceiling of the Hub, hoping for something, or someone to come and heal his pain as his body healed itself when he died. But no. There wasn't anything. There wasn't anyone. It was only him. And his sorrow.

He lay down on the cold, damp ground and closed his eyes, blinking away the tears, not resisting the impulse of running down his cheek.

**Gwen's apartment_9****th ****July, 21:58 p.m.**

Gwen locked the entrance door as she turned around to walk into the living room. The lights were on, low though. Rhys was nowhere to be seen, but she was sure he had headed to sleep. She had told him so, as she had told him she would be getting late that night. That was a lie. She just wanted to get away from him just for once. She needed a little space.

The topic on Owen and Toshiko had gotten her more tired than ever. She couldn't bare the thought of it. They have gone. Forever. She had thought Torchwood was an organization that saved lives. That protected them from the threats, the aliens out there. But, wasn't it safe for them? Weren't they all secured enough? After all, above Torchwood, above them all, there should be someone else watching over them and making sure everything was going perfectly fine, uh?

She looked up at the ceiling of her apartment, hoping for something, or someone to come and answer her questions, the ones she could not bare to live with. But no. There was nothing. There was no one. It was only her. And her doubts.

She sat on the couch, letting her hands cover her face, as the tears rolled down, making everything feel worse than it was.

**Roald Dahl Plass_9****th**** July, 21:58 p.m.**

Ianto was sure no one would find him around there. The car park always closed at these hours, so it wouldn't be that normal if someone turned up in the middle of the night around there – and less normal if it was someone like him. He didn't dare get into his own apartment. The thoughts made him feel ashamed.

There were so many people he had known that had died. There was so much grief he could see. And yet the deaths didn't stop. Lisa had died.

They had worked together, in Torchwood One. Until the Canary Wharf War had taken place there, making everything he thought as shelter, turning into a burning haven.

He hadn't talked to his mother since then. And it had made it a bit easier for him to keep Torchwood secret, as she had never phoned back – she didn't have his number. But it made him feel so bad, leaving his mother, not talking to her. She was the only person he had left, apart from Jack and Gwen. But his mother was the only person who could understand him. Had everything gone wrong because of that? Because he was so weak? Because… he didn't know how to… how to take control of his own life?

A cat meowed as it got near Ianto, giving its warmth to him. He looked at the cat tenderly and caressed it, as he had caressed Linda before. He wouldn't be able to caress someone else like that.

He looked up at the ceiling of the car park, hoping for something, or someone to come and console for the losses, and listen to his qualms and calamities. But no. No thing came. No person came. It was only him. And his depression.

He stared down at the cat, caressing it as gently as he had done before, not aware of the little tear that escaped his eyes.


	3. Remember

**Light years away**** in the TARDIS…**

Stepping on the metallic floor through to the centre of the control room, the Doctor grinned as he watched the shiny green light of the TARDIS' central console.

It had been nine hundred years of travelling and befriending her and she still did the same thing. Or was it nine hundred and one? Was it nine hundred and two? Whatever! The TARDIS would never change in her life.

And he hoped she wouldn't. He wouldn't be able to cope if she changed forever or something worse. If she died, he wouldn't be able to be himself ever. His life would be at an end and… well… let's just not think about it.

He had spent most of his life alone, and the TARDIS was the only… thing he had that was left of his home planet. He wouldn't bear losing her, just like he had lost many of his friends, not only in the Great Time War, but in his travels. Many of whom died trying to save his life, or saving others' lives. Most of them would have just left, others would be left behind. Just like Rose Tyler…

Well. His experiences were extreme. Millions of planets, millions of galaxies and stars too! Just in one universe. And he had visited each one of them. Well, most of them. He did nearly know every single planet and asteroid, or meteor, and maybe a few of the past, future and present galactic space stations in the universe. He had met Judoons, Carrionytes, the Ood kind, Vespiforms. And not telling how many countless of foes he had encountered.

His parents had thought him crazy when he first mentioned his plans of travelling through time and space. Gallifrey had been centuries making up maps, and planet and universe globes. They knew every single place in the universe, and all the Doctor had came up with to his parents was to go travelling, when there was nothing else to discover around the universe. His parents…

They had died in the Time War along with his wife and children. And there was nothing left to be done, except for keep on travelling.

The TARDIS stopped abruptly. The Doctor fell on the pricked floor and rolled about as the TARDIS started to shake and rumble angrily.

The Doctor tried to stand up, successfully grabbing hold of a stick sticking out of nowhere, and then falling again as the stick moved downwards at the weight of the Doctor. And that was when he suddenly realized it wasn't a random stick sticking randomly out of the console, it was a lever.

The TARDIS trembled and thundered more and grew angrier, until it came to a sudden halt.

The Doctor stood up – this time easily with maybe a little help of the console as he used it as a support. He looked around the control room, hoping nothing happened to his TARDIS, hoping she hadn't died again, as it did when Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith and him had crashed onto a parallel earth. It was a really bad memory that one, Mickey had decided to stay in there and had broken Rose's heart. Anyway, back to the TARDIS.

The room seemed alright. The room was still lit by the green light going up and down the Time Rotor, and it hadn't lost its usual earthy-bronzy colour. Everything seemed right. Until the point he looked at the lever he had pulled down.

He panicked when he saw it facing its tip downwards. He rapidly pulled it back how it was supposed to be and let a sigh of relief escape.

If anyone knew the TARDIS as the Doctor knew it, anyone would know that seeing that lever pulled down would mean a disaster. Because that lever was the lever that held the vortex as it was. He let another sigh go. The lever hadn't been pulled down that long, so he was sure nothing horrible would happen.

But he didn't know that, as he pulled the lever back up, a thin layer of green light ran out of the TARDIS and flew all the way across the universe, as if looking for a certain place, which it seemed to have found as it fluttered past the Sixth Galaxy and the Nation of the Intergalactic Generation, crossed the Outer Rim through the Milky Way until it run into…

**Wales, Great Britain, Planet Earth_10th July, Friday, 05:08 a.m.**

It was a normal sunny Friday in Cardiff, just in Tiger Bay. Well… maybe not a very normal Friday, in the case of Captain Jack Harkness. Jack inhaled the breath of the sea before him as he thought of his unusual life.

A life that included monsters, aliens, and him, with his acquaintances, – not proud enough to call them friends – saving the world from the threats that came by. But he had grown to get used to it and to really love his not usual life.

Being able to live for centuries was good, and kind of fun. But the fun stopped when life passed in front of you, people killed you for fun, and many people, most of them people you loved, died before you.

He now did understand he couldn't really do anything about it and that he had to let them go. But he just couldn't let them go easily, and forget about them.

Every night he would dream about them over and over again. And every time he did, he would see Toshiko Sato's motionless face, lying down in his arms. And always imagining how Owen Harper would have died inside the Nuclear Centre, locked, with nowhere to escape, trying to calm down and not panic as Toshiko talked to him sadly from the Hub as she died too; and he was gone, leaving a Toshiko Sato there to die, saving millions of lives, maybe even billions!

And they had left hope upon the Torchwood team, as Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones and him were the only people there to save the world, as they always did in their everyday lives.

Jack gave a last gaze at the immense sea before turning around and walking towards the feet of the Water Tower just in front the Millennium Centre.

He stood on a brick and for a moment seemed to be waiting for someone to come, until he disappeared as the brick went downwards. Even though there were a few people around the place, they didn't seem to be surprised by that, nor did they notice. But Jack was used to that, as it was his idea to build the chameleon circuit in that peculiar brick.

The brick went downwards into an underground workplace: the Torchwood Hub. He looked up, where the brick he was on was supposed to be. But the brick was replaced by another one that moved across to cover the ground above. And the brick stopped moving when it reached the bottom of its destination.

Around him, the walls standing before him, the workstations, everything that made Torchwood what it was, wasn't what made Torchwood what it was now anymore, but the people that should be working on it, trying to enjoy themselves and forget all the deaths they experienced.

Gwen and Ianto weren't there yet. Too early for them to be there yet, but most of the time Ianto did come this early, and they – Jack and Ianto – would have a bit of time together while Gwen wasn't watching them. But Ianto hadn't come this time.

Jack walked across the Hub to the once Toshiko's workstation and turned it on. The three screens lit up with blue glow. He opened some files in each one of them, and something caught his attention. He had opened the CCTV camera files and on the camera on the cells, where Janet, the Weevil, had been, he saw an odd light.

It was kind of greenish. Jack ran towards the stairs that led to the cells, his coat waving behind him, wondering why the intruder alarm hadn't gone.

He got to the door. He looked at his feet. At the door's feet a green light dominated the cells. But as he touched the handle of the door – you could call it a handle – the light disappeared.

He waited for a moment. He heard a grunting and a groan. And banging and crashing. He opened the door, Webley on hand, and saw… nothing. He could just see the normal hall going through to the other wall and two cells at his left. And one of them had a man.

Jack pointed his gun at him. The man was stunned and looked kind of… happy?

'Who are you?' asked Jack. 'And how did you get here?'

The man was red headed, and had a good build. He was wearing a dark green shirt and cargo trousers. He smiled at Jack kindly, but there was a hint of malevolence in that smile that gave Jack a bit of familiarity. Jack just looked at the man up and down, a bit confused.

'Thank god, Jack!' exclaimed the man with relief.

Jack just kept his Webley in front of the man's face, between them the glass. 'Do I know you?'

'Oh! My dear Jack! What's gotten into you?' The man stepped forward touching the glass. 'It's me! Don't you remember?'

There was a moment, when Jack tried to get his gaze away from the man's eyes. But it was too late. The green light had gotten him and there was no turning back. Because something in the back of his head played with his brain, changing everything he knew and turning it to lies. Toshiko and Owen disappeared, Gwen and Ianto were now friends of his, flashes of his past, his brother, his family, flashed across his mind and something was taking over his memories. And now he wasn't himself.

'Oh! I'm sorry!' exclaimed Jack. 'Had a bit of a brain break down, how did you get yourself in there?'

Jack removed the sleeve in his left arm revealing his vortex manipulator, that didn't really work, but was a useful thing coming to technology in Torchwood. He pressed some buttons on it and the door of the cell opened, letting the man on the loose.

'I was just cleaning up. I had some problems and got stuck.' The man replied. 'Well, where is everyone?'

'At home,' answered Jack. 'They'll be coming by now.'

'I hope so. I would really love to see Toshiko.'

Jack smiled. He didn't remember Toshiko was dead.

Gwen Cooper felt a pinch behind her head. She turned over her back and saw Rhys awake, with a wide grin on his face. Gwen smiled back, as she stretched.

'Why did you have to pinch me?' Gwen asked. 'Jack doesn't like when I get to the Hub this early…'

'Yeah, I know,' Rhys snickered. 'But that early has passed one hour ago.'

Gwen sat up and looked at her bedside clock. 7.00 a.m.! 'Why didn't you wake me up?'

'Didn't I just do that?' Rhys watched as Gwen freaked getting clothes that matched and getting her boots on. 'I have something to get to Jack. I found the Yellow Pages he was asking me about. Really, can't he get it himself?'

'Stop complaining and give me it,' Gwen went into the kitchen and grabbed some bread from a packet on the bench. She stopped, noticing Rhys, who was dressed up. 'Going somewhere?'

'Work,' he simply said.

'Today is Saturday, you don't work on Saturdays.' Rhys gave her a sheepish grin.

'I was hoping I could give Jack the Yellows myself.' Rhys' gaze was the 'I really want to see aliens again', so she couldn't really complain. Gwen was sure he was going to give a quick look around the Hub and that's it. It was Saturday, so what was wrong with a quick glance?

She just smiled at him, he knew the answer. He grabbed the Yellow pages just on the couch in the living room and ran with Gwen down into the street.

It was dark then when Ianto Jones felt a pinch behind his head. With his eyes still closed he turned around hoping Lisa was there. He opened his eyes and… no. She wasn't. But there was a cat. He didn't really remember getting one. Oh, well. Cats were calm animals; it wouldn't be bad to have… it there living with him. He sat up and stretched. For a moment he thought what had happened last night.

Jack, Gwen and him had gone to… that new restaurant around the corner… was it Angelico's? It was Italian, for sure. They had been having a laugh, a bit of a talk and a snack – at least Gwen and he did; Jack didn't seem to have anything ever.

Everything was going perfectly until the subject about Toshiko and Owen came up. That might have been what put Ianto so down and made him sleep so long this time. He looked at the time now. 7.00 a.m. Whatever! He didn't have to always be punctual, did he?

He got up, towards his wardrobe and got a suit out. Got a shower, got his suit on, shaved, had breakfast and… got some food for the cat, left it on a plate on the floor, where the cat would be likely to go and he went off to the Torchwood Hub.

As he walked he couldn't help but think of himself. Nothing else, just himself and everything he'd been through. First it started at Torchwood One, London. The life he would have wanted with Lisa. Then the Canary Wharf War. And his life had gone all wrong then. Lisa had died in the basement of Torchwood Three, Cardiff, after a few months of recruitment.

It had been hard for him to get into Torchwood Three, as Jack really hated the ways of London's Torchwood, and didn't really want to do anything about Ianto. But they got along later then, and that friendship was becoming into something more than that. But every joyful thought turned again into the subject about Toshiko and Owen's death.

He shook his head, making the thoughts go away, and proceeded with his long march in silence.

Ianto got his key out of his pocket and opened the door to the _Tourism and Information Centre_. He entered the room turning on the lights and moving to his position behind the counter, where pamphlets sat there to be taken out. He did take them out, and as he did another pinch at the back of his head made him walk into the Torchwood Hub and leave the centre by itself.

He walked through the automatic rolling door and appeared in the Hub, not believing what he was seeing. He saw Rhys on Toshiko's workstation, working his way through the screens. He turned to his right, seeing Gwen reading the newspapers, as usual, though Gwen making her husband work in Torchwood wasn't really herself. And then an even bigger pinch behind his head made him turn to Owen's workstation, where someone was sitting in front of the screens.

Ianto walked towards Owen's workstation slowly. Rhys and Gwen didn't really notice Ianto, but he preferred it like that. He walked up the few stairs to the workstation and saw a very familiar man. He was ginger, and was working through the Rift Manipulator's plans.

The man turned to Ianto with a smile, but gazing at him spitefully. 'Hey, Ianto!' the man said as he closed the plans. 'Where have you been? We were very worried!'

Ianto didn't listen to the ginger man. 'Who are you? And what are you doing in Owen's workstation?'

'Gosh, Ianto, don't you remember me?' the man looked into Ianto, but Ianto turned around keeping the man's gaze away. He had green eyes.

As Ianto had turned around, Jack Harkness had gotten in front of Ianto grinning.

'Morning, Ianto!' he exclaimed happily. 'You're late today! What happened?'

Ianto turned rapidly to the ginger man and quickly to Jack. Jack seemed to understand the expression.

'Why does everybody forget today?' he murmured as he walked behind Ianto and put an arm around the ginger man's shoulder. Ianto turned around to meet Jack's gaze.

'When did you recruit him?' asked Ianto confusingly.

Jack and the ginger man looked at each other puzzled too.

'He was always here.' Jack turned to Ianto, looking at him with tenderness, though there was something behind that face, and a flash of green appeared in his eyes.

Ianto turned from Jack to the ginger man. The ginger man walked forwards, his face beside Ianto's, and whispered just one word. Remember.

And then, Ianto remembered. He could remember so much suffering, the memories – the lies.

The ginger man took one step back, and smiled malevolently. Ianto looked around the Hub and see Gwen's motionless face looking straight at him, in the eye, and saw another flash of green, this time in her eyes. He turned to Rhys, who was too staring at him, a flash of green in his eyes too. And then back behind the ginger man, Jack's eyes flashed green once more. The ginger man was now filling his vision.

'Remember, Ianto,' the ginger man said, not quite moving his lips, more like telepathically. 'Remember Adam.'

Ianto tried to get away from Adam, but it was too late. And his eyes couldn't get away from the green gaze, as his mind started to twist itself. And he was a different man.


	4. The dream

'_Now, then, you lot!' exclaimed a man in a brown suit who was running around some kind of control – lots of levers and buttons! 'Sarah, hold that down' he said ge__sturing a woman, around her forties, she pressed a button down. 'Mickey, you hold that, 'cause you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place,' this time to a brown-skinned man. 'Rose!' a blonde girl, rather pretty, looked up to the man. 'That, there,' she held a lever as she was told so. 'It's designed to have six pilots. And I have to do it single handed!' he said to no one in particular. 'Martha, keep that lever.' A dark girl nodded to the man happily. 'But not anymore!' he exclaimed to everyone, and grinned. 'Jack, there you go!' the man had reached him. 'Steady that –'_

'_Who the hell are you?'_

_The man turned to him looking incredulous. Jack just glared at him. The man got nearer him, examining him very closely. 'Are you alright Jack?'_

Captain Jack Harkness opened his eyes. He could only see green. No, wait. Those were Adam's eyes.

**Torchwood, Cardiff, Wales, Great Britain_10th July Friday, 18:58p.m**

'Are you alright Jack?' Adam asked.

Jack brought his hand to his head. 'Yeah, just fine,' he replied.

'Well, then. Can we go on with the meeting?'

Jack glanced at Adam's back. Rhys sat just beside him, Gwen at his side. Ianto was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was cleaning up the rests of that Pterodactyl that had appeared in the Hub out of nowhere.

'Yeah,' Jack gave a great yawn, 'of course. Where were we, then?'

'The mad Weevil that has been running away all week,' Gwen responded, 'everyday getting into an unfortunate person's home and biting them to death. PC Andy has been contacting me all week, all the time complaining. I wonder who told him about Torchwood…'

'Don't know him!' Rhys said, placing his hands behind his neck.

'No idea!' Adam sat back to his seat as he said this.

'Someone must have been very uncareful and slipped something about it when he was 'round.' Jack said.

'Does the word 'uncareful' even exist?' Rhys asked half complaining, half teasing Jack's habit of inventing new words.

'Anyway,' Jack stood up and walked around the room. 'Do you think this people have something in common?'

'What do you mean by that?' Rhys turned around as Jack paced behind him.

'Well, some particular taste, maybe?'

'You mean, like same blood type?' Gwen started, 'Because if it is that I already checked it. They're all different.'

'What if,' Adam interrupted, 'they all have some kind of disease or…?'

'What if they all have high cholesterol?'

Everyone turned their heads to see Ianto walking through the door into the room.

'What makes you think that?' Rhys inquired.

Ianto held a little tube with a scarlet liquid in his hand. 'I just checked five people's blood samples; they all had high cholesterol levels.'

'And why didn't I see that?' complained Gwen.

'That's because you didn't check it properly.' Jack said as he patted Ianto's back. 'Good work!'

'Thank you,' Ianto smiled. 'It seems some people have gratitude in this room.' Ianto glared at Gwen and she gave back a frown.

'The Weevil has been haunting Bute town these days,' said Adam. 'Reckon it's gonna keep looking round there?'

'Let's just leave Rhys and Ianto around the other side checking for it,' Jack told Adam as everyone stood up to get out of the room. 'Gwen and I will hang around the streets.'

'Why is it you and Gwen?' Rhys protested. 'Isn't it supposed to be Gwen and me?'

'Rhys, you need to socialize with people other than Gwen,' Jack reached in his pocket finding a lollipop and giving it to Rhys. 'Be a good boy.'

Rhys groaned and followed Gwen and Ianto out of the room. Adam was getting out when he noticed Jack sitting down and rubbing the back of his neck.

'Is there something wrong?' Adam asked. Jack jerked his neck to look at Adam.

'No, nothing,' he simply said.

'There is something,' Adam sat beside him. 'I know there is. Every time you do that there's something wrong. So, what's up?'

Jack scratched his head and nodded. 'I had a dream…'

'...A fantasy...' Adam sang. Jack stared at him strangely. 'Sorry.'

'Thanks, Adam,' Jack sat up. 'I was in some kind of hub. Just like ours. But it was more colourful. I kind of liked it better than ours, you know? We should renew our Hub and turned into something more…'

'Get to your dream.'

'Right, sorry. I was in this strange Hub. There was a column in the middle, around it some kind of console. It was all levers and buttons. And there were more people. I was there too. There was this weird man walking around us all and giving us orders.' Jack paused waiting for a reactions from Adam, but he stared at Jack for him to continue. 'I didn't – don't know him. Nor did I know the rest of them. But they seemed really familiar. As if I did know them from somewhere. I just can't recall where I saw them.'

'You think you did see them all?' Adam broke off.

Jack just nodded. He was looking into nothing, in thought. Trying to recall where he had seen those faces before, Adam guessed.

'What did they look like?'

Jack turned to Adam, a bit puzzled by the question he'd asked, but replied anyway.

'There was a woman, dark haired. Her name was Sarah. She was around her forties and not that bad-looking. A dark skinned man was beside her. He seemed around his twenties and his name was Mickey. Rose was a cute blonde girl. She was twenty or so years old. There was this dark-skinned girl that was the most familiar. She was Martha. She was around twenty years. She seemed to look at the other man in a very peculiar way...'

Jack stopped talking, lost in thought, trying to understand Martha's expression towards the man. Adam stared at Jack, waiting until he could talk.

'And the one giving you orders?' he finally asked.

Jack faltered, trying to recall how he looked like. 'He had brown spiky hair and was wearing a very familiar brown suit.' He paused. 'There was something about his eyes.' Pause again. 'They were sad. But he seemed very enthusiastic then.'

They didn't speak for a moment. Adam stood up and gestured Jack to do the same. Jack walked towards the open door.

'Well, it's just a dream,' Jack said. 'Nothing is gonna happen, will it?' He turned around to stare at Adam. 'Why did you want to know how they looked like?'

Adam shrugged. 'I just wanted to know.' Adam touched Jack's shoulder. 'And, yes. It was just a dream. There's nothing to worry about.'

Adam's eyes glowed green, the light flashing into Jack's eyes. Jack grinned as the green light disappeared and left the room not remembering anything about the talk with Adam and the dream he had had.

Adam sat in Toshiko's workstation. Everyone was in position to get the Weevil. So he was all alone in the Hub. He opened a map of Bute town on one of the three screens of the computer. And in another screen were the plans of the Rift Manipulator. He was so fascinated in it. It was so big.

He was concerned with Jack's dream. He said the people seemed familiar. But, come on! It might have been just a dream. Or maybe they were people he saw around the street most of the times. But Jack sounded very… familiar about the man in the brown suit. Why? Maybe he was remembering?

In panic, Adam placed one hand in his temple and searched through the memories he had taken from Jack. He could see so many people. But none of which Jack had described had showed up yet. No! Wait! There was a face just before! He rewound Jack's memories and got a picture. Just nearly like…

'Did you get anything yet, Adam?' Gwen's voice cracked on his ear comm.!

Adam reached his other hand to the ear comm., heated. 'No, haven't seen anything yet.'

'Well, it's been two hours since we've been around wondering through the streets, you know?' said Jack, a bit annoyed.

'Patience, Jack. It'll show up.' Adam said, sounding reassuring, although he was very furious to have been interrupted in his search. 'Ianto, Rhys. Got anything yet?'

'No, only the fact that Rhys is trying to commit suicide because Jack is flirting with Gwen,' Ianto replied, with what sounded like jealousy.

'Come on, Ianto! Don't get green because of us!' Jack laughed.

At this, Adam laughed too. 'Yeah,' he said, 'green.'

A bleep in Adam's screen startled them all. Adam leaned closer to the map.

'Weevil alert around St. Mary's Street!'


	5. Surprise visit

**Light years away in the TARDIS…**

The Doctor lifted his head up from the keyboard. He had felt a pinch just on the back of his neck. He turned his head over his shoulder, but couldn't see anything. He ignored it standing up straight.

He thumped the controls of the TARDIS with his trusty hammer – not really as trusty as his sonic screwdriver. The TARDIS bleeped as he ran around the console and pressed buttons and pulled some levers. He was about to pull that particular lever which he wasn't supposed to, but made a pirouette when he got there.

'You really don't want to pull that lever, you know?' he said. 'If you pulled it downwards, and I say downwards, it would mean the end of everything. The vortex would open up and would turn everything around. Everything you know how it is will turn into the opposite. Take the example of the laws of gravity: instead of going everything down it just might stay in the air. And you wouldn't want that to happen, would you?'

Very long pause. He turned around to see his companion. 'Would you?' but there was no companion standing there listening to his speech. There was no one to talk to. He was all by himself. He was alone.

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and started to walk around the console again, watching the green light of the Time Rotor going up and down.

He stopped in front of a screen, showing the symbols that used to symbolise his planet. He went through the keyboard just in front of it, hoping it would show him a recording of some past friend of his calling for help. But he knew it was impossible.

He walked around the controls again and started to punch buttons with his hammer.

**Wales, Great Britain, Planet Earth_10th July Friday, 22:58pm**

'Gwen, turn left at the next traffic lights.'

'I'm behind the Weevil!'

**Light years away in the TARDIS…**

He was alone. Alone in the universe and he had nowhere to go. Had he?

**Wales, Great Britain, Planet Earth_10th July Friday, 22:59 pm**

'Go to your right and keep on; at the third street, turn to your left. Keep your Webley at hand.'

**Light years away in the TARDIS…**

Rose Tyler was in a parallel Earth, so he couldn't go there.

Martha Jones was from UNIT, she would have to be moving around the country so it would be a little bit hard to get the right coordinates to arrive luckily at the same place.

He couldn't talk to Donna Noble, as her brain would start to burn at the first sight of him.

And Captain Jack Harkness was in Cardiff, living under the water tower just by the Millennium Centre in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales, in Great Britain…

Jack Harkness was…

**Wales, Great Britain, Planet Earth_10th July Friday, 22:59pm**

'The Weevil is tiring me and you seem to be real slow. I can't even see you behind me.'

Just one shot stopped her running as the Weevil tripped over.

**Light years away in the TARDIS…**

He knew the coordinates very well, even without looking at the keyboard. He went back to the screen and set tons of numbers rapidly, excitement taking over him.

**Wales, Great Britain, Planet Earth_10th July Friday, 23:00 pm**

'Good thinking!'

'We couldn't have done it without you.'

**Light years away in the TARDIS…**

It had been so long since they had seen each other. He really needed some refreshing for his memory. After all that had happened to them all, after Davros finally was destroyed, he just needed some visit back to Earth. But would he recognize Jack? Of course he would! He wasn't a Time Lord, was he? He couldn't change ever!

He stopped abruptly. He looked around himself. The walls of the TARDIS seemed to blur, the light of the TARDIS had become less shiny, the coordinates of the screen were becoming just numbers with no meaning and he was losing balance. What was happening?

**Wales, Great Britain, Planet Earth_10th July Friday, 23:00 pm**

And the green eyes stared straight at him.

He could see his face now, just from one of Captain Jack Harkness' memories. He was a slim man wearing a brown coat on top of his chocolate suit. His spiky hair and that agonized face were just a mask. That wasn't himself really. So who was he? What was he?

From Jack's memories he could make out a name. No, it wasn't a name, just a title: the Doctor.

Not a human, he guessed, even though he did look like the rest. The only thing he could find out of place was those old eyes: those big brown eyes looking straight at him. Who was he? What was he?

From Jack's memories he knew the Doctor was an alien, called a Time Lord, the last of the Time Lords. Such knowledge grew in him, so much wisdom. Such… wonders. And he could see his TARDIS, just around him, twisting itself, trying to get away from his gaze, from his green eyes. Such great power contained by the TARDIS.

From Jack's memories he could see two words. A bit blurred. They hadn't appeared for some time. But he could make out two words, flowing through his mind. And he couldn't get them out of him. Adam smiled at them. After all, he knew what they meant.

He placed his ear comm. closer to his mouth and breathed out: 'Bad...

… Wolf…' The Doctor's voice quivered as he said the words.

The Doctor fell on his body trying to get the gaze away from him. The flash of green light… Those green eyes… They seemed familiar, in a way…

He felt a pinch in the back of his head and the picture disappeared. The Doctor gasped and coughed for air. His body was too heavy on his supporting arms. He let himself lie on the floor for some moments, face down, holding his breath. He closed his eyes and saw again that flash of green in those eyes, just in the distance. Those eyes on that face smiling at him malevolently, whispering all the time to him those two words. He didn't dare to think of them.

The Doctor turned around, his back facing the ground. He opened his eyes, the TARDIS' light flickering green, just as those eyes... He sat up slowly, looking around himself. The TARDIS had landed already. With the support of the console's surface, the Doctor stood up and moved to the screen. The blue lights and symbols were replaced by a picture of water spreading across in front of the TARDIS. He turned around and walked towards the blue exit door. He opened the door revealing night-time Tiger Bay, in Cardiff, Wales.

The Doctor managed a smile, but there wasn't anything happy about anything in here. Those words, those two words had appeared through his mind and had slipped out of his lips, his own lips.

_Bad Wolf._

The Doctor turned around and walked towards the water tower. Jack should be somewhere near there. Last time - well, the second last time - he had seen Jack, he had gone towards the water tower and disappeared in thin air.

The Doctor stepped stood in front of the water tower, examining it carefully. From his pocket he produced his sonic screwdriver. He ran it through the front of the water tower, a blue light and all around him. He kneeled down, doing the same to the bricks on the ground and one of the bricks started to go down.

'Chameleon Circuit placed at the entrance to hide it from the public! That is so like Jack.' He grinned to himself and jumped on the brick.

'Know where Toshiko is?'

A short pause followed.

'Anyone?'

Gwen just kept on reading the newspapers; Rhys stared at his feet, trying to find something to do for him; Ianto... still in the _Tourism and Information Centre_; and Jack walked around towards random places of the Hub. Adam grew more impatient as none of them answered his question. Jack finally stopped moving and faced him.

'She might have taken a little vacation.' he told Adam. 'She always stays here and does the hard stuff for us. She needs it.'

Adam nodded, but he wasn't convinced. Gwen finally took her eyes off the paper.

'What about Owen?' she asked. 'He hasn't been here either for quite a while...'

'Might have run off with our little Tosh then,' laughed Rhys.

Adam looked at Rhys disgusted with what he had heard. His dear Toshiko Sato, a master of mathematics, the one he had loved, with Doctor Owen Harper? He returned his gaze to the screens of his station when Ianto entered the room.

'Anyone fancy a coffee?' He walked towards the coffee machine.

'I rather have a Cappuccino,' Rhys responded.

'Mocha for me!' Gwen said as she returned to her newspaper.

'With milk and chocolate flakes thank you.'

Everyone would have thought it had been Jack if it wasn't for the accent. Adam got his revolver out at once pointing it behind him. Everyone else moved nearer Adam, weapons out.


	6. Memories

**Torchwood_10th July Friday, 23:34 pm**

'I was expecting a better welcome to Torchwood type of thing,' the man said.

He was rather odd, but familiar to Adam's eyes. Spiky brown hair, big brown eyes, brown coat, dark blue suit, tall and slim, and a loneliness masked behind that big friendly grin of his.

'How did you get in?' asked Gwen immediately.

'And how come the alarm didn't go off?' Rhys continued.

'Have you fixed it Ianto?' Adam turned to Ianto.

'Sorry,' this one replied. 'I forgot. I have lots to do in the kiosk.'

'It's an information centre, you idiot!' exclaimed Rhys.

Adam waved a hand to calm them down and then turned back to the man.

'Can we help you, sir?' Adam asked.

'Well, yes. I was looking for something to do while I was walking around - well, more like flying around. And then I thought I'd come 'round this way and have a tiny visit to an old friend of mine. Yeah, well. Found your entrance and I have to say: brilliant idea with the brick moving down and chameleon circuit and stuff...'

'Stop mumbling, mate and just get to the point!' Everyone turned to Gwen, who didn't quite look in the mood that night.

'Right, right. Sorry.' The man took a deep breath, making everyone nervous. 'I was just around to see Cap'n Jack Harkness.'

Everyone looked around to see the astonished Jack.

'You know him?' Gwen asked.

He mouthed 'no idea'. They all turned back to see the stranger. He just beamed.

'I don't think our friend here knows you,' Adam said.

The man scratched the back of his head.

'Well, how come I do know you all,' he pointed at Gwen. 'I remember you from the end of the world - Gwen, right? Nice to finally see you personally.' He pointed at Ianto. 'And you were with her, just behind. You are Jack Harkness.' he looked right into Jack. 'You and I travelled together. Remember? Rose Tyler was with us. And when you discovered you couldn't die! There was Martha with me. Yeah! Remember all the winkles I had then? Yeah, we were in the end of the world together too. Two. No! Three times already! And you!' The man pointed at Rhys, and paused for a moment. 'Who are you?'

'He's my husband!' Gwen exclaimed. 'Something wrong with that?'

'No, no, no, no, no! That's brilliant!' the man exclaimed excitedly.

'And how come you know so much about us?' Jack finally got into the conversation.

'He didn't say anything about me, did he?' Adam said.

'No, I haven't, as a matter of fact.' the man moved one step closer to them. 'So, who are you?'

Adam grinned malevolently and stepped forward, nearly touching the man's nose. 'I'm Adam.' He revealed his green gaze and the man's grin disappeared and was replaced by despair. 'And you must be the Doctor.'

The Doctor stepped back. 'How do you know?'

Adam followed the Doctor's steps. 'The only Time Lord left in the universe,' Adam could see him trying to get his gaze away, 'travelling in his TARDIS. Why? Why even bother travelling all by your self? They've all gone. Everything's gone.'

'There's no one that can understand.' The Doctor turned to see a flash of green in Jack's eyes.

'You've got nowhere to go, so what's the point of keep on travelling?' Gwen's eyes turned green. 'Why travel if you will just always run away from everything?'

'You travel a long way,' continued Rhys, 'a very long way always dragging someone with you, always leaving them behind leaving them to die.'

'Or you're just left alone,' the Doctor looked at Ianto, his eyes starting to fill with tears. 'Why travel if you are not loved?' The tears didn't roll down his cheeks.

'You know everything we're saying is true.' Adam stepped forward, his mouth near the Doctor's ear now. 'I can help you.' The Doctor's eyes widened. 'All that suffering, everything lost and the loneliness you feel. We can help you.'

'You can help me,' the Doctor murmured.

'Yes. We can if you join with us. There won't be anymore trouble. No more just you. No more alone.' Adam paused for a moment, feeling the Doctor's relief. 'And then you can help us.' The Doctor's relief was gone. 'With a brain like yours we could… change the world. This stinking little planet needs help. You know that. And you know you are the only one that can change it.'

Flash of green. The Doctor shook it away. Adam stepped back to get a good look at the Doctor.

'Join us.' Flash of green gleamed intensively, 'and no more alone.'

The Doctor couldn't really resist that temptation._ No more alone_. That phrase kept on echoing in his mind. He would never ever be alone. No more leaving behind. No more deaths. No more left by him self. But then… there wouldn't be Rose Tyler.

And he felt all his memories and knowledge flowing away, as the green eyes filled his vision, trying to take his memories away.

'No.'

Adam pursed his lips. He tried harder to get his stare into the Doctor, but the Doctor easily resisted.

'I said no!' the Doctor yelled.

Adam screamed and fell to his knees as if a strong wind had pushed him. He looked up at the Doctor weakened.

'How…' his voice trailed away. 'How can you…? Why can't I…?'

'Get into my mind?' the Doctor continued what Adam couldn't. 'Well, I have this kind of firewalls in my head that stop telepathy from breaking into my mind. It's Time Lord stuff, you wouldn't understand.' Adam groaned. He was getting his strength back. 'Who are you?' No answer. 'What are you? Where are you from? Who sent you here? And what are your intentions?'

Adam smiled. 'I'm just a memory.' The Doctor frowned. 'A distant memory kept behind the back of their heads,' Adam nodded in the direction of the rest of the Torchwood team, 'a memory that'd been forgotten until this moment.'

'Who remembered?' the Doctor demanded. 'I command you to tell me who created you back!'

'You.'

Adam said just one single word but it didn't explain anything. Adam laughed.

'Is it so hard to believe?' The Doctor stared at Adam as he said this. 'You created me back. I have no doubts.' And Adam stood back up and a flash of green crossed his mind again. And the Doctor understood.

'No doubts,' he repeated.

'Feeling ashamed, aren't you?' laughed Adam.

The Doctor looked back at the people behind Adam. 'Ashamed of letting this people fall for you.' He saw the motionless face of Jack, looking straight at him, a flash of green ran through his eyes. 'So, tell me something: a memory. Just behind their heads. Can you explain yourself?'

Adam hesitated seeing no danger for words. 'I was no danger. I just wanted to fit into the world. Change people for what they wanted to be. This place was perfect for someone like me. I changed them. I made them happier. Jack had recovered two years of his memory back. And all I got back was that pill for them all to take and forget everything. I was gone and their memory with me. And I've been waiting long to be back.'

'Feeling lonely, weren't you? Or just revenge?' The Doctor said with a hint of anger.

'Feeling lonely… yes,' Adam stared at his feet. 'Revenge… I'm not sure of that.'

'What else would bring you back than that feeling?' The Doctor spit. 'Fury. Rage. Anger. What else would it be? Revenge brings most people to do things they shouldn't.'

'It sounds like you fell for the same feeling too.' Adam laughed. The Doctor closed his mouth. 'That shows it, then. We have the same feelings. We have the same thoughts. We are very alike.'

'We are not alike and will never be.'

'Oh. And I was hoping we would get along so well.' Adam added a tone of sadness.

The Doctor faltered. 'I was hoping that too.' He looked around to the desk in front of him, where Adam had been sitting before and took an odd object on top of it and got a pen out of his pocket. 'This?'

'That's broken; I was trying to fix it.' Adam watched the Doctor as he ran the pen over the object.

'Well, good effort for you,' the Doctor put his pen back in his pocket. 'I think I've fixed it.'

The Doctor pressed the object with his fingers and Adam fell to his knees again. Jack and the rest shook their heads and looked around themselves.

'Feeling weak, uh?' the Doctor was passing the object from one hand to another. 'Well, this isn't anything like a weapon against foes to get their strength and recover your self – even though I would like that. This is a control remote, like in DVD's, but not really like them. This kind of stuff just rewinds ones doings to whichever moment without having to relive the day again. Brilliant, isn't it?'

'Doctor?' An American accentuated voice interrupted the Doctor, and excitement made his gaze rise where Jack Harkness stood. 'What are you doing here?'

'I'll take it you don't want me 'round 'ere,' the Doctor said, walking around Adam and towards Jack. ''Course, 'because you have everything under control. No memory at the back of your head has taken all your memories and made you another person and taken control over you. Ah, with a green flashing light.'

Jack frowned, but walked towards his old friend and gave him a hug. He parted.

'Can you repeat that again?' Jack asked.

'Who's this guy?' Gwen asked, confused.

'Oh, I'm sorry.' Jack turned around to his mate placing an arm around the Doctor's shoulder. 'This is the Doctor, an old friend of mine. He was in the 'end of the world', remember?'

'I know; I do know him. I was talking about the ginger head.'

Everyone turned to see Adam.

'Oh, just a past memory,' the Doctor waved a hand in front of them in a 'don't-mind-him' way. 'And don't try to remember…'

'He seems very familiar,' Gwen said.

Adam looked up at Gwen.

'I said, don't remember…' but the Doctor was interrupted again.

'Of course, Gwen,' Adam stood up, staggering as he tried to get closer to her. 'You do know me. We used to play basketball.'

'You played basketball?' asked Rhys baffled.

'I never played basketball in my life,' she walked closer to her husband.

'Oh, yes we did,' Adam was getting better balance. 'I showed how to throw better and so much more.' He was about to touch Gwen in the shoulder when the Doctor intervened.

'Don't touch her!' he yelled. Adam just smiled.

'Those green eyes,' Rhys whispered, frightened.

'Alright.' And he touched the Doctor instead. But he didn't get the Doctor, because Rhys had stood between the Doctor and Adam and had saved the Doctor from a blast of green light.

Gwen shrieked at the sight of this and reached for Rhys. But Jack grabbed hold of her and the Doctor and ran back to the rolling door, Ianto following them.

Gwen fought to get back for her husband, but Jack and Ianto carried her on their shoulders towards the _Tourism and Information Centre_. The exit out of the place was locked.

'Ianto, the key' Jack shouted from the other side of Gwen's kicking legs.

Ianto reached for his pockets but found nothing.

'It must have fallen off as we ran.'

'Move please!' the Doctor pushed through them all getting his sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket.

A blue light and buzz and a click let everyone know the door was open, and they all were out at once.

Rhys' immobile body fell onto the ground, making an echoing sound around the Hub as he touched the metal floor. Adam felt so much alive, and got stronger and stronger as he walked around the room. But he needed more energy, more knowledge.

He ran to Toshiko's stationary, and punched one of the screens on the desk. Blue electricity drained inside of him, going up his arm and into his eyes. And the blue lighting became green, and then it stopped. He withdrew his fist of the broken glass of the screen and ran this time to Owen's workstation. With the same choreography he hit one of the screens, consuming the energy living inside the computer and then an explosion of green light, then it stopped.

He felt so good, so full of power, so alive and angry. But there was something telling him there wasn't enough. He needed more. He needed something big full of great vigour. And he turned around to see the base of the Water Tower, standing in front of him, tall and might: the Rift Manipulator. The Rift Manipulator had huge, enormous power; power used to control the ripple between time and space, and protect the Earth from any harm of this one.

Adam smirked, a smirk that showed he was up to no good. He reached for the column, opening an aperture just about the same height. He watched as red light went up and down the insides of it. He could make out another mini column standing, and a gap on it just in front of him. He placed his fist into the gap, inhaled a deep breath, closed his eyes and ripped the whole column apart, red lighting filling the room, slowly turning into green.


	7. Speaking English

**Angel icon's, Cardiff, Wales, Great Britain _ 10th July Friday, 23:56p.m**

They sat there in silence. No one dared to talk – mostly because Gwen was infuriated for them letting Adam kill Rhys. The Doctor couldn't meet anyone's stare. He felt the guiltiest of all for Rhys' death. He couldn't react as Rhys jumped in front of him, blocking Adam's green blast from getting the Doctor. And again, as always, he ran away after killing someone, like he had done before. It seemed like the only thing he could do well was run away after being saved by someone else.

The Doctor sighed, gathering bravery to look around the table. Ianto was reading the menu upside down – more like pretending –; Gwen covered her face with her hands, hiding her face from the rest of them; and Jack stared at Gwen intensively, his eyes full of grief.

'So, are you gonna order or not?'

The Doctor turned around to see a waitress wearing that black costume they usually did. It made him remember of Astrid, who died too because of him. He turned around wincing, trying to hide that tear that was about to roll down his face.

'Quiche,' Jack replied to the waitress. 'For all, thank you.'

As the waitress walked away – wondering if he had a girlfriend – Jack gave a sudden unexpected little snicker.

'Since when do Italian restaurants have Spanish food in their menus?' he laughed.

'It's French,' said Ianto at the same time the Doctor had whispered it.

'And since when do you even know anything about cuisine?'

'Maybe since I act as the housewife at the Hub?' Ianto replied in a question.

'The only things you do is espresso café and clean up the Pterodactyl's wastes and take care of the secrecy of Torchwood in the Tourism and Information Centre and do everything we tell you to.' Jack counted his fingers as he said all this.

'Wow! I can't see why you can't say 'housewife' to that.' Ianto laughed.

'I never said you weren't a housewife.'

'I never said I was a housewife!'

They both laughed out loud, making the other tables look back at them. Gwen slammed her hands on the table, startling Jack and Ianto, who stopped laughing at the instant.

'Well, what are you looking at?' she barked at the people looking round.

They turned around, feeling pity of the table sitting with the bad-tempered Gwen.

Jack leaned closer to Gwen. 'You should control your temper.'

'Who, me?' spat Gwen, very upset. 'My husband has recently been zapped to death by someone that is apparently a memory and all you talk about is omelettes and gays playing housewives for you because you don't know how it feels to properly love someone!'

'That is not true,' said Jack back to her.

'Then why are you all the time hanging 'round guys more than girls!' Gwen continued. 'Tell me then! Speak up! Why are you all the time going round the guys?'

'That's enough!'

Everyone turned to the Doctor, staggered of how loud the Doctor sounded. He looked straight at them all, not really focusing in any of them.

'Just because you lost someone, you don't have to take it on other people,' he said.

'You shut up!' Gwen yelled.

'No! You shut up and listen!' the Doctor shouted back, making Gwen feel small and insignificant.

'This is going to be very tense, let's go?' Jack whispered to Ianto. They both stood up silently leaving the Doctor to deal with Gwen.

'People die! It isn't fair, but it happens! And you shouldn't lose your senses because of that! Going blaming other people! And you're one of the less people who have to watch millions die in your own hands!'

'Then shut up, because you made it happen!' howled Gwen. 'He died because of you! It's your entire fault! Everything's your fault!'

The Doctor hesitated, searching the meaning of the words, and instantly, the words he was about to say blurred, as he realized of the truth. It was his fault. Entirely his fault, because the eyes… those green eyes…

The Doctor turned around to see the rest of the people watching all the drama again. 'Turn around and mind your own business!' he yelled and turned back to Gwen. 'It might be my fault, but I didn't ask for this,' he whispered. 'I really didn't ask for this. I never thought this would happen.' He paused, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. 'But you have to deal with it. You have to control yourself. You need to let it go. You have to let him go.'

'You make it sound as if your own had died.' Gwen spat, even more upset.

The Doctor gulped, swallowing the despair he was about to show. He blinked fast, making the tears blink away. 'They have gone,' he said in a murmur, enough for Gwen to hear it. 'Everyone, every single person I knew. They're all gone. And I let them go.' He waited for her to reply, but she didn't speak. That had made her shut up. 'You should do the same.'

They remained in silence. Gwen just stared at the Doctor, who was flickering, looking towards counter, where Jack was flirting with the waitress and Ianto watched them both in jealousy. She hadn't known. She didn't know him that much to know. But, it had made him remember. She didn't really intend for him to feel that guilty. She just wanted to let her rage out. Her husband had been killed. But she was making someone else feel upset. She was supposed to be the heart of Torchwood. Not the one who got angry at everyone who started to ignore about her dead husband.

She started her apology 'I'm very sorry…' She frowned then.

The Doctor finally turned to Gwen, and noticed her gaze wasn't focused.

'Gwen?' The Doctor leaned closer to her. 'You right?'

'Dark…' she muttered. 'So dark… There's nothing…'

'Gwen…'

Her eyes turned to the Doctor. 'Something's coming,' she suddenly said. 'And the words describe it perfectly.'

'What are you talking about?'

'Darkness will come and in the dimmest of times one will have to die.' Gwen's voice quivered.

The place shook a bit and stopped abruptly. The Doctor just kept his gaze on her.

'But that's not right now' Gwen's voice changed into someone else's familiar voice. He hadn't heard that voice for a long time. 'Doctor, we need your help. You have to listen to me. Our world is breaking down.'

'Rose…' the Doctor mouthed.

'Two words, Doctor, only two words.'

The Doctor's eyes widened, he really didn't want to hear the next.

Gwen's eyes turned white, and an echo followed as she screamed 'Bad Wolf!'

The place started to shake. The glass of the big windows at the front of the restaurant shattered, falling on a couple sitting near by. People started to scream. They all fell on the ground, their tables falling on them, and plates flying around. And then it all stopped.

Gwen tried to stand up successfully, and then realized the Doctor had helped her to her feet. The Doctor was looking through the window. Gwen looked at the same direction, seeing green light. Just nearby. The Rift!

'The Rift!' exclaimed the Doctor. 'He was weak! He's taking the energy of the Rift!'

Gwen felt a breeze coming from behind her, finding out it was Jack and Ianto following the Doctor. Gwen did the same. 'Doctor!'

**Torchwood, Cardiff, Wales_ 11th July Saturday, 00:27 am**

Jack ran behind the Doctor, who ran through the whole of Cardiff through to the place the explosion had come from. He didn't know what was going on. He hadn't the chance to ask the Doctor. He was so upset after Rhys had jumped in to be a hero for once in his life. He didn't really like him that much. But he had done the right thing, sacrificing himself to save the Doctor. He looked up at the stars and thanked him.

Back to the real world, Jack saw the Doctor going through Tiger Bay, crashing into the door of the _Tourism and Information Centre _- to which Jack had to laugh at - and sonicked the lock with his sonic screwdriver, then got in. Jack entered the dark reception, shoving himself through the shadows. As he ran through the rolling door, he saw the Doctor in the distance, staring at the Rift Manipulator in horror. Ianto and Gwen had gotten there in time to see the same thing.

The Water Tower's bottom was ripped off, showing what was left of the Rift Manipulator. Adam had completely destroyed it.

'It's gone,' murmured Gwen murmured, more to herself. 'The Rift's gone!' Gwen turned to the Doctor 'Where's Rhys gone?'

The Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver through the bottom of the Rift Manipulator, and stood back up putting his hands into his pockets, 'Burst into atoms,' he responded. 'The corpse couldn't resist the explosion. Gone.'

It wasn't loud enough for everyone to hear, but Jack had made out the words he had said next: 'I'm sorry, Rhys.'

'But how?' Ianto asked. 'How could he possibly do this? And how did he suddenly appear in here?'

'Oh, he has been here before, for sure!' the Doctor explained. He placed a hand inside the hole in the Rift Manipulator and then licked his thumb. 'You just couldn't remember, and can't ever remember. Because, if you remember, he'll get stronger by the time you do.'

'Can you speak English?' asked Jack, bringing a hand to his ear.

'He's a memory.' the Doctor turned around to face his public, 'a memory that's been at the back of your minds, hiding because he had been here before. You just don't remember because of something you did to yourself – maybe zapped yourselves 'till unconscious, or used the chameleon circuit to… no, wait – that's for Time Lord disguise… oh, and spacecraft and stuff… like your brick going up and down – anyway… You've forgotten and must not remember. Because then he'll get stronger and zap everyone to death.' He turned around to the Rift Manipulator. 'So this is Cardiff's famous Rift Manipulator!' He stepped forward and tapped the remains of the Water Tower. 'Thought it a bit more… sophisticated, but no! It's easy to comprehend and easy to think it as big.' He turned back to Jack, Ianto and Gwen. 'Size isn't everything, I tell you.'

'And what's that saying for, eh?' asked Ianto.

'The Water Tower might seem big, but the Rift Manipulator isn't?' Jack suggested.

'I wanted to say that the Water Tower might seem big, but the Rift Manipulator isn't,' the Doctor said.

'That's what I said…'

'But,' interrupted the Doctor, 'the energy of the Rift Manipulator seems to be so great, magnificent and enormous because it holds the whole of Cardiff, Wales, the Earth and I could say even the universe in one whole piece; but, the energy isn't as big as it seems to be.'

'You mean our Rift Manipulator isn't resilient?' Ianto asked.

'No, it is resilient,' the Doctor responded. 'It's just not as powerful as people think.'

'Then, if it isn't that powerful,' Gwen continued, 'why did he even bother to take its energy?'

'Because he needs control,' the Doctor skipped around the Hub. 'With the Rift Manipulator gone – '

'The Rift will be unsealed.' Jack's eyes brightened. 'There would be chaos and because he absorbed all the energy of the Rift Manipulator he can control it.'

'But he needs more energy.' Everyone turned to the Doctor, who got to Toshiko's workstation, which seemed to have been crashed. 'The Rift isn't enough to take revenge and control the whole universe.'

'Excuse me,' Gwen said. 'But, revenge?'

'Apparently you haven't been very nice to him.' The Doctor started to pass his blinking sonic screwdriver through the remains of the computer. 'And he didn't seem that happy.' He stopped sonicking and put his sonic gadget back into his pocket. 'He's taken the energy from the computer.' He looked across the room and ran back to Owen's workstation. 'He's taken this one down too. Internet feed. He's taken the internet! But that's not enough, is it? He needs more, does he? What else? More knowledge? What more!' and suddenly the Doctor's face looked horrified.

'What's wrong?' Gwen asked.

'The Rift Manipulator's not big enough. I don't think is big enough for him to be fully recovered.' The Doctor looked into nothing, too deep in thought. 'He wants revenge by taking the life of others. Destroying everything you live for. And he'll be fully recovered if he takes the energy from where he came from.' He stopped looking gloomy. 'Where he came from…?' And he could recall the words Adam had told him. _You made me_. The Doctor's eyes widened nearly popping out of its sockets. 'The TARDIS!' and with that he ran out of the _Tourism and Information Centre_ back into the night.

The Doctor ran through Tiger Bay, past the broken Water Tower and got into the TARDIS. Jack, Ianto and Gwen were nearly there. Yes! They were about to touch the doors, but it suddenly closed all by itself. Gwen ran into Ianto who squeezed Jack onto the door.

'Doctor!' Jack started to slam the doors and pull them, but they wouldn't give in. 'Doctor!'

The Doctor was so troubled that he couldn't hear the slams and the clutching noise back at the door. He got to the controls, checked the Time Rotor, looked around the room and let a sigh of relief, grinning.

'Nothing wrong,' he muttered. 'We're alright.' He was turning around. 'We're alright…'

And inside the TARDIS, just by the doors, he saw Adam, standing there, looking around with a glimpse of fascination, admiration and spite. His smile fell at his sight. Adam stared back at the Doctor and beamed.

'Yeah,' Adam walked closer to him. The Doctor turned around: the heart of the TARDIS. Adam wanted to get closer to the heart of the TARDIS. 'We're alright.'

Adam reached for the lid hiding the TARDIS' heart. The Doctor blocked Adam's way, but he just snorted.

'Doctor, Doctor…' Adam stared into the Doctor's eyes. 'What do you think you're doing?'

'Saving the life of the only thing I've got left of them,' he answered.

Adam laughed. 'Doctor,' he walked around the console, watching the Time Rotor's light. 'I'm part of the TARDIS.' He stopped at the Doctor's side. 'Why would I possibly kill her?'

'You recover yourself, you take her away.' The Doctor tried to get his gaze away from his. 'She'd die. I'd…'

'You'd be alone?' Adam's stare became more intense, trying to get into the Doctor. 'Was that all? Alone?' The Doctor tried to ignore Adam. 'But look! You've got the TARDIS! The only one in the universe! Just unique! And I'm part of it.' The Doctor grimaced, Adam smiled. 'Yes… You know what I'm talking about, don't you? You made me. Why do you think you made me?'

'I didn't make you.' The Doctor spat, looking back at Adam. 'You made yourself from Torchwood's mind. You made yourself because of anger and revenge.'

'No! You made me!' Adam exclaimed. 'You let that spark of life fly through the universe from the TARDIS to Earth.'

'I never let that bit of vortex go,' the Doctor said bitterly. 'It was an accident.'

'You let that spark of life come to me,' Adam continued. 'You let me have the sparkle because you are alone!' The Doctor flinched with that. 'Yes. You feel alone. You don't have anyone around you. You needed someone. You made me. I'm your new companion. You know why now.' He got closer to the Doctor's face, whispering in his ear 'I can help you.'

The Doctor pulled away from Adam. 'Ho, ho! No, no, no, no, no, no! You won't – I won't fall for that again!'

'Oh,' Adam said with a bit of disappointment, hiding his face, 'I thought I could give you another chance.' He looked back up again. 'I guess I was wrong.'

Adam turned around and opened a lid. Ancient golden light came through.

'Feel the TARDIS die, then.' Adam gave a wicked grin as he lifted his fist.

'No!' But it was too late.

Adam's fist touched the TARDIS' heart, which gave up all its golden light, going up his arm, Adam laughing at the great power he was absorbing, all the knowledge and the wisdom. And he could feel the pain of the TARDIS, going through the Doctor. He could feel the pain the Doctor felt and the tears rolling down his eyes. The light of the console room flickered. And then it died. She died.

The Doctor's hearts shattered as the glass of the window at Angel's Icon did. The Doctor looked up at Adam. It was dark, but soon got used to it. Adam lifted his hands and examined them. He felt Adam turning around.

'We need lights,' Adam clapped his hands together and the room was lighten by green light, just like the Time Rotor's, though it didn't come from there. It was dead.

The Doctor backed away, as Adam came forth. 'I could feel your pain, Doctor. I really could feel it.' He saw the Doctor's hurt face. 'Oh, don't go sentimental. You made me, by the way. Why should you be so sad?' The Doctor didn't answer. 'So good you let that spark of life go as you pulled the lever of the vortex.' Adam shook his head. 'Such an irresponsible boy. I'm sure that, now that the TARDIS is gone… maybe you want to join her.'

The Doctor looked back to Adam. He now understood. 'You waited for me, instead of taking her in one go.' Adam smiled, in excitement. The Doctor was getting it now. 'You wanted me dead, at the same time you wanted her dead.'

'I would have expected for you to be swifter in finding out.'

And the Doctor ran back to the door was about to open it. He reached in his pocket for the key.

'What now? Are you gonna run away, like you always do?'

Adam's question sank into the Doctor's mind. _Am I gonna leave the TARDIS like I did to others before?_ He stopped and turned around to face Adam.

'I've always been a coward,' the Doctor uttered putting his hands into his coats' pockets. 'I won't run away this time. I don't care if you wanted me dead. I don't care! I just want the universe safe.'

'No meaning of life now, is there? That wasn't a wise decision, though. But good for me,' Adam rubbed his chin with his fingers. 'I mean. You, who saw so much of the universe and know so much, So much power for so much insight. I would need that to rule the world – I mean, universe, don't you think?' The Doctor gulped. He knew what was next. 'I'm sorry. At least you will join with your dear TARDIS. It's the only way.'

And Adam reached his arm, green bolts coming from it. The Doctor closed his eyes, waiting for his sentence.


	8. Hopeless

**Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales, Great Britain_10th July Friday, 00:51 am**

The Doctor closed his eyes waiting for his sentence, but he still could see the green bolts that were about to kill him through his eyelids. He could feel the electric spark, just about to touch him when... Something pulled him and felt cold breeze embrace him.

He opened his eyes, revealing Jack closing the door of the TARDIS.

'Always keep a TARDIS key with you,' Jack said as he locked the doors. 'Never forgot the day you gave me and Martha one.'

But the Doctor was too tormented to care about Jack's talk.

All he had left of them, all he was – had been –, all he had been there for; it was gone, gone for good and forever. And there was no turning back. But there was something in the back of his mind, as if just a tiny spark of the TARDIS had lived in him. Or maybe he was just hoping.

'…Dctr, lt's g!' The Doctor didn't react to Jack's call. 'Dctr! Hv y nt bn lstnng.'

The Doctor turned to stare at Jack. He couldn't focus on what Jack was saying. There was something in the words that made his head feel fuzzy. But it wasn't the words. It was his head.

Jack pulled the Doctor away from the TARDIS, as the TARDIS blew up with green explosions and the ancient gold lights going off into the sky. But the Doctor's mind was too much disturbed to notice the shower of sparks and outbursts.

His heartbeats were echoing in his mind, gradually slowing down. No. It wasn't his. There were two beats. There was one slowing down… Was he dying? No, wait. It was slowing down and it faded. But two hearts were still there. There had been three hearts then. And Jack turned to speak to the Doctor, but somehow he couldn't make out the words Jack was saying.

She had died.

The Doctor's eyes widened. Jack had revealed his vortex manipulator and had started to press the 4 and 9 buttons on it. Jack shouted to Gwen and Ianto, who held onto him while running. Jack held the Doctor's arm and pressed one last button on his vortex manipulator.

'No!'

But the Doctor could not do anything and they were gone in a blink of an eye.

**L'Arc**** de Triomphe, Paris, France_11th July Saturday, 9:26 am**

Tourists, they always came here. And only because of some piece of junk that stood like an arc. And it was because of that they came? Just to see some stones cemented on each other forming a bow above them? Come on! If it had been him he would have decided to stay at home and live a normal life because it wasn't even worth it going. You just hurt your neck only to look at it. Then, why was he there in the first place?

Jaquolei [_pronounced: _Jake-oh-lee-ah] had had to come because his parents had thought the human culture was a 'fascinating background with ethnic and marvellous traditions'. Well, he thought the other way. He thought the humans were just the filthiest race in the whole universe. They left rubbish on their grounds, people graffiti on walls – on Church walls even! – teased and made fun of any other of their race that did something really silly.

He had loved going to travelling before. It had been so much fun and more delightful, when his mother used to be less historical and educational and only cared about travelling, and when his dad used to invent a new way to understand one's culture or created a new gizmo to download a map of the area and just pressed co-ordinates to a certain place and travel from point A to B.

He didn't remember when he stopped liking it, if it was because his parents had lost the sense of adventure he had or because they were getting so old that they didn't feel dangerous places were going to be as good anymore. But he was really hoping to get old enough to go travelling the universe by himself, to get a bit more of adrenalin to his journeys.

He turned around, looking through the sea of people. There was a gap between and it was visible. He twisted back to see his parents, still holding their necks to be able to see the arch. And he had seen it, just through the gap of people, someone walked through and four people appeared out of nowhere.

_Oh, there is something exciting after all_, Jaquolei thought and walked over to check out what had happened.

No one seemed to have noticed but him. Everyone just kept on looking at the arch. It was so stupid. There were three men and one woman. They seemed in a hurry as they pushed through the crowd. Jaquolei followed them and just focused on catching up with them that he didn't notice the sudden green light surrounding around the L'Arc de Triomphe.

Jack dragged the Doctor out of the sea of crowds, Gwen and Ianto following, making sure that the Doctor walked the same way as Jack. Gwen glanced sideways. No one had noticed as they were too busy looking up at the archway. But then she saw that fellow, pushing through the vast and making his way towards them. But then, she hadn't gotten a full frame of that, as Ianto pulled Gwen with him and together strode out of the way.

The Doctor fought Jack's hold, but Jack wouldn't let him go, and the Doctor's mind was a bit lost too, to Jack's luck. Gwen could see his devastation; that gaze when you lost everything you had and it was gone, just as Rhys had gone. Gwen shook the thought away and held her tears. She wouldn't cry. Rhys wouldn't want her to cry. Not when he had been a hero for once, saving someone else's life. She would go on, no matter what.

They kept running. Just running without turning around and see what was to happen next. Ianto didn't know how long they had been running. The only thing he knew was that they didn't get exhausted. Was it the need to get the Doctor as far away from Adam as possible? Was it because they wanted to get to one point straight, out of Adam's sight? Was it just that they wanted to show Adam how helpless they were? Or was it fear?

Fear for their lives. Fear for weakness. Fear from Adam. He was so great in power, with the massive energy he had taken from the Rift Manipulator, and took the life out of the Doctor's TARDIS. Little he knew about the Doctor's spaceship, but from the Doctor's face it must have contained immense power. And by his face, if Adam had gotten to the TARDIS, it meant no good.

They had been running.

_She was gone._

They had got away from everything.

_She was gone._

And they ran away from the danger, from the harm, but then…

_She is gone._

They had teleported, and were brought to an area full of people, just enough to cover their arrival. But the Doctor had tried to stop them, he didn't know why. He couldn't think. He couldn't get himself back into senses. His mind had locked itself from danger, from harm, from everyone else, even from himself. He commanded it to respond to his orders, but it wouldn't let him. It would just strangle and try to go back. Go behind where the past lay because it couldn't let go. And he was so weak. He couldn't control even himself.

A cry, a scream, a yell and they had been gone. And he couldn't turn back. Because if he looked behind, he knew there wouldn't be any hope. He just looked forward and didn't dare to think of what just had happened. And he had to get him away. If he didn't get him as far as possible from their landing spot, everything, his world, his friends, his life, they would be gone. No. He wouldn't let it happen.

He heaved the Doctor, who was trying to get away from Jack and go back to his beloved TARDIS. But it was dead. And he couldn't do anything but pull the Doctor and get him away from any harm. It was hard, but he had to help the Doctor, because the Doctor was the only person who could help them all to escape their dreadful end.

They hadn't noticed him. It was better like that. Jaquolei ran as the group got further away from him. He could have run faster, but he didn't want to really seem to be following them, so he kept a fair distance.

This was so thrilling. He could feel the excitement run up his throat and the enthusiasm filling his mind. But his conscience told him that, even though it was that stimulating, there was something that wasn't right. And he could smell it from the wind. He couldn't really tell what it was, but in the scent there was a hint of… fear? Melancholy? Devastation?

He could hear all voices around him, all speaking at once and couldn't understand anything. For Harko's sake! Did the LC interpreter brake again? He stopped for a moment and reached into his backpack. Jaquolei produced a little round piece of metal and tapped on it several times, making the item whirr and blip and beep. And he could understand the voices. He looked up and continued running. But he had lost track of the troupe.

They had stopped. The Doctor looked around. They were in a normal desolate alley between two buildings. It was a bit smelly and it stank like hell, but at least there wasn't anyone around. He heard voices speaking in another language. He turned, alarmed. But it turned out to be Jack, talking to Gwen and Ianto. They nodded, a bit upset, as Jack spoke. The Doctor still couldn't understand. Then Jack spoke to him, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't understand because she had died.

Nine hundred and three years of travelling and befriending the TARDIS. And he had thought this day would never come. But now there wasn't anything. She was gone. He had thought she would never… But there wasn't anything else he could do.

Rage and wrath burnt in his hearts. It was his entire fault for pulling that lever down. And he had created a monster that was now loose, roaming somewhere in the world. He could even be in the past, or the future, or at the opposite side of the universe. Because he had taken the power the TARDIS once contained. Adam had killed her.

The Doctor couldn't contain himself.

'You shouldn't have!' he yelled at Jack. 'We – you shouldn't have teleported us! We could have helped her! We could have done something! But then you had to bring us here and leave the TARDIS to die! I'm not like that and you know that, Jack Harkness! I would never leave anyone behind if it wasn't to let them die! But of course, you're not me! So you can do whatever you want with me and my miserable life! Don't you?'

Jack, Gwen and Ianto just stared at the Doctor with blank faces. The Doctor just stared back and then suddenly realized. She was dead. No TARDIS. That meant no translator. He couldn't understand them. They couldn't understand him.

The Doctor's eyes widened. 'The TARDIS is dead. Without her to bring me around the place, without her to translate everything to me, there's no way I can help Earth this time. Not even the universe.' He leaned on the wall of one of the buildings and gazed down, shocked. 'It's impossible. I can't do anything. I'm hopeless.' He looked back up at his companions, who stared at the Doctor, not understanding a word he was saying. Why was he even talking? They wouldn't understand anything even if he tried hard. He had to give up.

They had been there for hours, talking to themselves. Well, mostly because they couldn't understand each other. But the Doctor just couldn't hope anymore. There wasn't a way he could help them anymore.

They had left the alley an hour ago and swept into a group of tourists. He wasn't sure where they were headed, but Jack had decided to follow them, gesturing Gwen, Ianto and him to go after him.

The Doctor devoted the time while they walked into thinking. Thinking about anything there was to think. He had to clear his mind. He really needed to get away from reality. He was lost. He had lost. He lost. For once, the hero had lost. Not that he called himself a hero, but he was the only salvation humanity, maybe even the universe had left to survive the end that was about to come. And he couldn't do anything anymore. Adam had taken her life. Even if there was a trace of her somewhere inside Adam, he wouldn't be able to get Adam to change. He only wanted his revenge by taking humanity first. And then the whole universe, tearing apart the world Jack, Gwen and Ianto had known, had loved. And he couldn't do anything to help them save their world.

The Doctor heard a shriek that made him come back to life. He saw Gwen. He looked her direction. It was a TV window shop and he could see people screaming, crying in agony. Fear strangling their hearts. Gwen cried and shoved herself into Jack's arms, who watched the hole that was planted where Cardiff used to be. Ianto didn't dare to watch, he just looked down at Gwen, patting her back. The Doctor stared at them with torment.

'I'm sorry,' he simply said. 'I really am.'

Jack stared back at the Doctor. He didn't know what the Doctor had said, but he understood, nodding at him and then watching back at the TV's.

And the Doctor just couldn't do anything. He watched the people of Cardiff suffer. He watched the people crying over the hole that was supposed to be Cardiff. He watched the newsreader, without understanding a word, though he knew. Watching Jack, Gwen and Ianto cry over their home.

And he couldn't do anything but watch. He had to give up.

He was lost. He had been running for a long time now, trying to find them again. But there was nothing. Not a trace from them. There was just the normal crowd of tourists wondering through the city. He had looked everywhere and had found nothing. And, to cap it all, he didn't know the way back to the 'Arch of Triumph', as the humans called it. His dad had created a Portable Area Finder, but it was only to be used by himself and nobody else. So, he was lost.

His attention turned to something else when he heard great screams and gasps. He turned around and saw a café. Something was happening there. He walked into it, and appeared from a clean sunny day into a cold and dark and depressive coffee bar. Not literally though. The people in there made it look like that because of what they were seeing. Jaquolei looked the same direction as everyone else. A TV sticking out of the ceiling showed frames of a great hole in the middle of nowhere.

Jaquolei realized that his mouth was open and immediately closed it, biting his lip. It was horrible and unnatural. His parents had told him in this planet nothing like this happened, that it had no knowledge of outer life, just them and their little world and no one to bother them. It seemed it was until now.

He heard from the reporter that that hole used to be a city called Cardiff, situated in Wales, Great Britain. Then the hole must have been fifty times bigger than it looked. He couldn't believe that such thing could happen. What was the most powerful thing that could make a gap that great? He couldn't think of anything then. But the destroyed metropolis, and remember the ruined planet he once loved. Was it happening here too?

He couldn't resist a tear rolling down his cheek.

Grief, Gloom and Gall, they were words that described this event, all starting with 'g', like the word green. Green like the grass growing on the ground, green like envy and greed, green like those two eyes watching it all happen.

A smile upon a nasty face, making fun of the sorrow felt by the people, laughing at the pitiful scene they were making down there. And he could feel another kind of grief. It wasn't situated around there, but he could feel it, even though he didn't know where it came from. He snorted at the feeling. He knew whose distress he could feel, and it was funny to him.

He had killed her.

Now he was useless.

He was hopeless.

He couldn't do anything but give up.

Adam gave a laugh of triumph, an echoing sound that got to everyone's ears, as a warning.

The Doctor could feel Adam watching him. No, not watching him, feeling him, tickling his brain getting into his mind and trying to read it, forcing his way into his feelings and thoughts. And he had won.

The Doctor knew Adam could get into him more easily now that he had killed the TARDIS and taken her entire energy. All for Adam's own benefit. And he had shattered the whole of Cardiff. About a million dead and Adam hadn't cared because all he wanted was his revenge on the Torchwood team. And it had made the Doctor infuriated.

But he couldn't do anything without the TARDIS…

The TARDIS was dead…

Without her he wouldn't be able to help the Earth this time…

He didn't have anything…

He couldn't do anything…

Nothing but watch as the planet decayed…

And let that flash of green cross through his mind…

_No!_

The Doctor felt stronger. He felt braver. He felt angrier. Adam was just trying to influence his mind like he had tried before. And the Doctor wouldn't let him again. He had to do something instead of standing there and watch humanity undergo the start of their end. And he wouldn't let it be the end.

The Doctor turned to Jack, Gwen and Ianto. 'Right!' he exclaimed. Jack, Gwen and Ianto gaped at him, astonished by his sudden eagerness in his tone. 'Let's get going!'

And the Doctor started to walk away from the TV shop, from the group of tourists, from what was turning him down, from Adam's staring gaze, trying to get into his mind and try to get his thoughts into the wrong direction. But the Doctor would not let him. He would keep on and run forward because this planet needed his help right that moment. Because the galaxy had just had one warning from Adam, and now it was time for the Doctor to act. Because the whole universe was at stake and he had to assist it. Because he had to do this for the TARDIS… wait a moment… was that his language?

'Hey, you!'

The Doctor turned. He was in the middle of the road. A truck was closing in. He stood there petrified. Someone appointed him as 'you'. And he was pushed aside.

He hit his head with the ground and then…


	9. The light

_...then it was dark._

_It was dark and cold._

_There wasn't anything._

_He was alone._

_No, wait. There was something: a light._

_Some kind of light shining through and a silhouette that blocked it._

_It was a very familiar silhouette._

_The silhouette held her hand high and reached for him, inviting him to come nearer._

'_Rose?'_

_The Doctor stood up, walking to the girl._

'_Rose Tyler?'_

_And Rose smiled._

_The Doctor turned and saw someone behind her. He might have thought it was a mirror if it wasn't because his copy was wearing different clothes from him. What he would have never thought of wearing: black jeans, black shirt and black leather jacket. His duplicate smiled at him._

_The Doctor turned back at Rose._

'_I'm back.' And she held his hands in hers tightly._

_And she smiled. But there was something that didn't really convince him of this being the real thing. And he let go of the hands of the illusion, which made her startle._

'_I won't fall for it again, Adam,' he laughed. 'You hear! I won't let myself fall for this!'_

'_Doctor!' cried the illusion._

_And then it blurred._

_It faded. And he too started to fade. No. Not him. The light was fading away and…_

_It was dark again._

'_Hello?'_

'_Are you alright...'_

_..._

_..._

'_I didn't mean to hurt him that bad...'_

_..._

'_I... look, I-I just wanted to...'_

_..._

'_I was just... I just pushed him aside to save him...'_

'_A truck was about to hit him. I just wanted to help him out of the road.'_

_..._

'_Look! He's coming round.'_

_..._

'_Are you alright?'_

Doctor...


	10. Klenngasse

**Av des Champs Elysees, Paris, France_11th July, Saturday, 11:03 a.m.**

The Doctor opened his eyes. A kid stood there looking down at him. His temple throbbed. He brought his hand to it, and felt a big bump just above it. Did it have to happen to him every time he was in a hurry to save the world? He should stop making his heroic scene.

'Just a tiny bump, see?'

The Doctor shook his head and looked around. He had heard a voice talking his language. He stared at Jack, who started to talk to the kid.

He must have just imagined it. Maybe just wishing he had really heard a voice, talking his own language. Because he knew there couldn't be anything, there wasn't anyone that could understand him. Because she was gone, and she would never come back.

'Are you alright?'

That voice again talking his language. He looked around, but there wasn't anything, just the kid above, smiling at him.

'Are you right there, mate?' the boy asked.

'Yeah…' the Doctor said, nodded. 'Just can't find that voice…' pause. 'Did you just say something?'

The kid stared at him mystified. 'Why wouldn't I say anything?' the kid said. 'You were just nearly been hit by a truck.'

The Doctor looked at him flabbergasted. He then looked round at Jack, who too was staring at the kid baffled.

'You can understand me?' the Doctor asked.

''Course I can!' the kid snorted. 'Why wouldn't I?'

'But – I mean – you couldn't really – I mean, really understand me?' the Doctor mumbled. 'The TAR… –' The Doctor hesitated. 'She's dead…'

The boy turned to Jack, in confusion. 'What's up with him?'

Jack replied something the Doctor didn't get and the boy glared at Jack. 'What do you mean what' up with him what? Didn't you say he was your friend? So how come you don't even care what's with him?'

The Doctor stood up, stumbling and falling to the ground again.

'See in what state he is? And you don't even care!' the kid exclaimed.

'Now, calm down, I'm alright,' the Doctor said, making another attempt to stand up. 'They do care. We're just boggled in your understanding.'

'What do you mean by 'we'?' asked the kid.

'Well, me and my... acquaintances here.' the Doctor pointed at Jack and the others. 'What did you say your name was?'

'I didn't say,' the boy said, looking at the Doctor worryingly.

'Well, then tell us!'

'Jaquolei,' the kid replied. 'Jaquolei Louq.'

'Well, Jaquolei Louq, you'll serve us for great help. First, you'll walk us somewhere more crowded and second you'll tell us a couple of things,' the Doctor responded enthusiastically, placing an arm around Jaquolei's shoulders and gesturing Jack and the others to follow them.

**Jardin de Carousel, Paris, France_11th July, Saturday, 11:42 a.m.**

'So you can understand both of us,' the man continued, as he and Jaquolei walked around the park, 'but why?'

'What do you mean by both of us?' Jaquolei asked. It was so weird how it had gone fast. He had just met these people – well, better said they just met him – and now the one who seemed their boss was dragging him around.

'Jack, Gwen and Ianto and me,' the man stopped walking nodding at the other people, who were enjoying themselves in the playground. 'You're not supposed to understand us both, did you know that? Who are you? Or I mean, what are you?'

'Don't ask it like that, it's rude,' Jaquolei complained.

'Sorry, didn't mean it like that,' the man apologised, scratching the back of his head. 'I meant to say that you can't be from around here, can you?'

That was wrong. Did the man suspect him to be from outer space? His parents said that they were sure that no one on Earth would think them aliens as they were just like them.

'You don't mean like out there, do you?' laughed Jaquolei pointing up to the sky. 'Why would you think that?'

'Well, despite that you understand both my friends and me,' the Doctor started, 'you don't have much knowledge as much as I do to tell me what this place is...'

'It's a park,' Jaquolei interrupted. 'Who wants to know about it?'

'I don't mean that,' the man said. 'I mean do you know in which city you are? Come on! Everyone knows this city like the palm of their hand. Well, I just mean the name, not the whole city, but that doesn't matter now. I just wanna know if you know this place.' There was a long pause, in which Jaquolei stared at the man with intimidation. 'Of course you don't, because you are not from here. You come from somewhere distant. You are from outer space!'

'You're mad, man!' Jaquolei exclaimed trying to sound human.

'I am not! And you know that! Come here.' The man dragged him closer to the playground. He stopped and searched in his pockets finding some kind of sunglasses, the glasses had different colours. 'Know what these are?' Jaquolei shook his head. 'These are 3D glasses. You use them to see pictures or movies or... whatever in 3D.'

'I never watch movies, my parents never let me.'

'Well, we don't care about that, do we?' the man put the so called '3D glasses' on and pointed towards the playground. 'Can you tell me what you see there?'

'The playground,' Jaquolei answered, and the man gestured him to continue. 'What else is there to see? It's just the playground, your friends, the grenach particles in the opaque air and nothing but rubbish around the ground...'

'Aha!' the man exclaimed. 'See! You see every detail! Every single detail.'

'Yeah, so what?'

'You can see more than a playground in front of you, don't you?' the man asked. 'You can see things in the air, more in the air. You are disturbed by the rubbish left behind. That's because where you come from is less like this. The air is clearer; the ground is cleaner and tidier.'

'I thought you wanted me to see something else other than that.'

'No, I just wanted you to say whatever.'

'I can be not from outer space, you know.'

'Yeah, you could,' the man agreed. 'But you are. You can have a humanoid look and seem a human. But I don't know if you noticed, but I did.' The man leaned over Jaquolei, making him feel nervous. The man pulled him and sat on a bench near them, looking up at him. 'I can see through you.' Jaquolei frowned. 'Literally, I can see through you.'

Jaquolei's eyes couldn't leave the man's. He knew. The man knew he was not from there. How could he know? And what did he mean he could see through him?

'Don't get what I mean?' the man stood up again and held Jaquolei's hand up in front of the sun. 'Look through it.'

And Jaquolei could see the sun through it. The man shifted Jaquolei's hand in the direction of the playground. He could see the outline of the playground just about. Jaquolei looked at the man mesmerized.

'Just as baffled as I am, are you?' the man said, leaving his hand. 'Bet you don't really see this where you come from. This air is not clean. You can see it in your skin.' Jaquolei stared at the man, not leaving his eyes. The man raised his eyebrows. 'Klenngasse. Isn't that what you're called?'

Jaquolei stepped back from the man, but it didn't make his intense stare get away from his.

'Oh, come on. Don't make such a great drama about how a genius I am,' the Doctor said.

'Who are you?' Jaquolei finally asked.

'I'm the Doctor,' he said. 'And the only man you can trust here if you want to survive this and live to tell the story.'

'What do you mean survive?'

'Listen,' the Doctor stepped in front Jaquolei, their noses touching, 'it doesn't seem as this, but right now you're in danger staying here on Earth. You should go back to your spaceship and fly away, half a universe if it's possible, and breach the Earth until it's at peace.'

'But this place is already peaceful,' Jaquolei complained. 'It's not like its soil is poisonous…'

The Doctor grabbed Jaquolei by the shoulders and shook him, 'I tell you to forget about this place and never come back.'

Jaquolei nodded, not wanting to disagree with him anymore. The man left him and walked in circles, brushing his hair with his fingers. He looked kind of thinking, but he kept looking back at Jaquolei. The Doctor suddenly stopped walking towards him again making him startle and walk back away from him. The Doctor stopped, noticing Jaquolei's fright.

'OK. Sorry for that, a moment ago,' the Doctor told Jaquolei. 'But I need to ask you, did you come alone?'

'Of course not,' Jaquolei uttered. 'I'm only fifteen years old. I can't fly around the universe by myself.'

'Who's with you?'

'My parents, of course,' he said. 'I've been travelling for almost my whole life.'

'Where are they now?'

'They should be at the Arch of Triumph.'

He stopped. 'That's where we came from.'

The Doctor's eyes widened with fear and ran a hand through his hair, nervously. He walked in circles, seeming angry, and after a few moments he came back to his senses.

'Well,' he said. 'We better get going before something happens to them. Come on. Allons-y!'

The Doctor ran, grabbing Jaquolei's arm. They both stopped by the road, the Doctor waving his hand high, as a car drove towards them.

'Taxi!'

But the car passed them by with the sound of the horn. The Doctor frowned and then remembered. They couldn't understand him.

'Jaquolei, call a taxi! And anyway can I call you Jaqui?'

'Call a "Tack-see"? What the hell is that?' Jaquolei asked.

'Oh, just do it!'

Jaquolei gave an irritated sigh and copied the Doctor, waving his hand high at an oncoming yellow car. 'Tack-see!'

The car stopped and the Doctor and Jaquolei got in.

'Tell him to go to the Arch of Triumph,' the Doctor said.

And Jaquolei did as he was told.

And the taxi drove away, leaving a Jack Harkness running after it and giving up afterwards. He turned around, shrugging at his friends waiting for him back at the asphalt.

The Doctor tapped his fingers on the windowpane impatient watching the city go by in front of him. Jaqui watched him for an instant, noticing a glint of seriousness he hadn't seen in the man a while back.

Jaqui took his gaze back at the man driving the box they had gotten in. It was quite amazing this box, actually. The man just sat there in the seats in front of them and made the thing move. They hadn't seen anything quite like it in his planet.

Actually, when he came to think of it... he had never been in his own planet.

He was born in the middle of his parents travels. He had grown up there since he was just a tadpole and... All he could remember was... their ship caravan, family and... Nothing more but images passing through his mind of all the places he'd been.

'Ah!'

Jaqui's thoughts flicked off as he Doctor's voice cracked out of silence.

'What is it?' Jaqui asked in sudden alarm.

'I missed it. Did I miss it?' the Doctor rubbed his temples and suddenly just stared into nothingness.

Jaqui just shook his head and turned his head back to the window.

'Ah!'

Jaqui just turned slowly in annoyance.

'What am I talking about?' the Doctor stared into nothingness again and suddenly slapped himself and snapped out of it. 'Ah! He's trying to get into me again.'

'Who is?' Jaqui frowned.

'I can't let him get to me again!' the Doctor looked straight ahead.

Jaqui turned that way too and saw it too. A green light struck not far from there. The man in front of them saw this too, and watched in awe.

The Doctor, eyes shining, leaned over near the man's ear and shouted 'Go towards that strike!'

The man just looked at him weirdly. The Doctor just brushed his hair and turned to Jaqui. He leaned over like the Doctor.

'Please, towards that strike,' he said.

The man nodded.

'Faster.'

The man yanked himself forwards and made the box swifter.

Jack, Gwen and Ianto saw it too. It was very far away, but visible. A strike of green light hitting the middle of Paris, he was sure it was the same man that had destroyed Cardiff. Their home.

Jack stared hard at the lightning, without flinching, fury going through his veins, heating him up. He knew the Doctor was going towards that place, and he knew that if he got there before he did, the Doctor would be in big trouble.

He had to save the Doctor before he did something silly, though Jack was the one who usually did the silly thing. But Adam was playing out the Doctor's mind. He could see it in the Doctor's eyes, sometimes a gleam of green, in his eyes, and it wouldn't go for a long time.

The Doctor was giving in.

And Jack had to do something.

He sat in silence beside his friends as the taxi driver promptly drove them towards the green light.

He was scared. There was no doubt about that. But he didn't want to show it. He knew Adam was watching him. And he didn't want to give him the liberties to have another laugh at him.

The Doctor couldn't focus himself. He constantly kept seeing the green beam, through his eyes. And then he'd snap out of it.

As they came closer to the striking green light he felt Adam more and more. And it felt so dangerous. He felt unsafe. Especially without his TARDIS.

The Doctor slapped himself. Adam was trying to get into him. He was trying to infiltrate his mind, get his knowledge, see his memories. He couldn't let him. He wouldn't let him. And to do so, he had to show courage and go towards the green light.

The taxi stopped.

'What is he doing?' the Doctor outraged.

Jaqui leaned to the driver. 'What's happening?'

The driver replied to him.

The Doctor was starting to get even more irritated. 'What's wrong? Why did he stop?'

'There's some traffic,' Jaqui responded. 'I think they closed off the tracks.'

'Wha—No!' The Doctor banged his head against the roof, as he tried to get up. He opened the door and got out. 'Come on!'

'What? Are we going through the tracks? Aren't we gonna fall into space?'

The Doctor crouched a bit to the height of the door. 'We're not in the middle of space, Jaqui.'

'Well, how do the space-boxes move here?'

'Welcome to Earth, Jaqui!' And with that, the Doctor grabbed Jaqui and they both ran through the traffic. With an infuriated driver calling after them.

But as they got to the Arch of Triumph, they couldn't – wouldn't – believe what they saw in front of them.

The Doctor felt that feeling of hopelessness again.


	11. Hopeless Again

**L'Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France_11th July Saturday, 12:24 p.m.**

The Doctor and Jaqui stood there, gazing at the deep, dark, gigantic round hole in front of them. Just where the Arch of Triumph was supposed to be, a gap replaced it, making it obvious it had been zapped out of existence.

'Where's the arch gone?' Jaqui asked anxiously, even though he knew the answer.

'Gone.' The Doctor couldn't take his eyes off the hole. 'Just gone.'

The Doctor crouched down to the edge of the hole and touched it carefully with one finger.

'Gone,' the Doctor repeated again. 'Not the same way he's destroyed the Rift Manipulator, but the same chemical effect with what was left of Adam's doing.'

'So this Adam… Who is he?' Jaqui wondered aloud. He turned to the Doctor. 'Is he the one you were talking about in the space-box?'

The Doctor strolled along the edge of the hole with Jaqui at his tail. Jaquolei cleared his throat, making the Doctor turn to him.

'Oh, was that to me?' he said, realising Jaqui was talking to him. 'Well… er… might be?'

The Doctor went back to his walk. Jaqui was going to follow when he remembered. The Doctor noticed Jaqui far behind.

'Something wrong, Jaqui?' he called back. 'It's alright. You're safe just with me.'

Jaqui looked up to him.

'My parents were here with me, when I saw you come,' Jaqui said. 'But they got away in time, didn't they?'

The Doctor just stared back at Jaqui, without saying a word. Jaqui started to lose hope.

'They wouldn't have stayed here long,' he told himself loudly. 'Maybe they went to look for me just in time before that green light got the arch.' The Doctor just stood there. 'Doctor! Tell me they're alright! I'm right, ain't I?'

Silence took over for a moment.

'Right,' the Doctor finally replied.

But there was no smile to reassure that answer. There was no gesture telling him he was really right, that his parents were still alive. There were only the Doctor's sad eyes, telling him the truth. They were dead.

Jaqui just nodded.

The Doctor slowly took in air. 'Right!' he yelled, and ran away from the edge of the hole. Jaqui did so too.

And from the hole green light came out, striking the sky. And a booming voice came from the heavens.

'Finally found you, Doctor!'

And Adam came down towards the Earth. Jaqui turned to the Doctor, seeking to know what they should do next. The Doctor just gaped at Adam nodding at him.

'That's Adam,' he said.

'And that's… bad, is it?' Jaqui guessed.

'Yep.' The Doctor walked to Jaqui and grabbed his arm. 'This is the part where we run.'

And they ran.

They just went away just to keep safe. The Doctor was again furious for being such a coward. But he knew Adam had the power to just appear in front of him at any moment to get him, now that he knew where the Doctor was. He just kept on running, without looking back, just looking forward to what was next.

Jack, Gwen and Ianto had seen it too, and they had headed there, but when they had gotten there, there wasn't anything else, but the hole where the Arc of Triumph had been. Jack couldn't think of any other place that the Doctor would think of going to.

Suddenly Gwen's eyes went white and started to run away from them. Jack and Ianto tried to follow her, but she unbelievably went fast, maybe even faster than a regular human being. They just let her go on. They were sure she knew what she was doing.

**Tour Eiffel, Champ de Mars****, Paris, France_11****th**** July Saturday 12:40 p.m.**

They followed the road without paying mind where it took them. But at the end of it they found themselves at the Eiffel Tower. The Doctor and Jaqui stopped, overlooking all the tourists in front of them, enjoying what might be the end of their lives.

Jaqui thought the Doctor was the one who was taking in the worst of everything. He was always starting to talk to himself and shout and make weird noises. His expression always changed from serious, sad and then to nothing and he would just suddenly after a couple of moments snap out of it and just yell. The Doctor just looked over the humans all but happy.

"Lots," he muttered to no one in particular, "lots of people… too many people…"

"Would you feel better if we ran another way?" Jaqui asked surprisingly calm.

But then a crack was heard from behind them and they turned around to see Adam reaching them slowly. His lips curved into a smile at the sight of the Doctor and his companion.

"Well, well, Doctor," Adam's voice boomed from everywhere, not just from his lips. "I see you've found company, again." Adam reached them, but kept a fair distance between them. Adam spoke, his voice heard from his own lips. "Dragging more people along with you, but, Doctor, you already know the consequences. You'll always lose them."

Jaqui looked from Adam to the Doctor, who started to look pained and lose his expression again.

"Why do you need someone if you're gonna ruin their lives? Why if you are gonna ruin the lives of the people who are around them?"

Jaqui looked around the three of them. Now all the tourists were watching them, getting the wrong idea of Paris – it didn't look like the lover's city anymore, more like the broken-hearted's city. A hubbub was gaining in volume, but nor Adam and neither the Doctor seemed to notice. They were both in their little world with just them alone.

"There's nothing for you anymore. You've lost," Adam looked all serious, but inside he was laughing in triumph as the broken Doctor showed up. "Rose has gone. Captain Harkness has lost all his faith in you by now." He tried to recall more people in his life and suddenly snapped his fingers getting the Doctor's gaze at him. "Aha! Martha! She loved you, but you ignored her. And you never even noticed. And the brilliant Donna." The Doctor's eyes widened tears building up. "Donna Noble. Noble by name and noble by nature." He paused. "You've ruined her perfect life." Tears started to stream down his cheeks: big, juicy and filled with agony. "She wanted to stay Doctor and you wouldn't let her stay."

"It was for her own good," the Doctor snarled.

"But you almost killed her." Hesitation. "That Time Lord mind you've got, has almost killed her. When your Time Lord DNA went into your 'canned hand' she absorbed the DNA to save the TARDIS and herself – oh, shame on her. Such a selfish thought of her. And instead of saving herself, it's got her half-dead."

"She's still alive."

"No, she isn't." Adam took a step closer to the Doctor. "Because you took her entire memory about you. You've destroyed her. All the wonderful adventures she's had with you. And you took them away."

The Doctor broke into more tears, trying to hide his face away.

"You've destroyed every single person you've travelled with."

"No he didn't!"

The Doctor slowly and weakly turned to Jaqui. Adam kept his gaze at the Doctor.

"You've still got friends," Jaqui said, with enthusiasm. The Doctor shook his head denying it. "Yes, you do." Jaqui laughed seeing the Doctor not open his eyes to what he still had. "I haven't known you for a long time, but I do know you enough to be the best person… um… alien – if that's proper for you – there's ever had."

The Doctor's face started to lighten up, but suddenly went back to sad mode.

"But…" the Doctor started, "I'm coward. I've been running away from this man trying to save my own life. I let everyone down."

"Well, what are you doing here?"

"I've ran away from him, that's why I'm here."

Jaqui gave a loud laugh. "No, Doctor. You saved my life." The Doctor frowned at this. "You've instructed me to save me and the people in this world… Well, just told me we had to stop this man – we didn't really save the world just yet. You stood up and walked off from your friends to try and save my parents. You've taken a step forward, not caring what will happen next. You've gone to the Arch of Triumph knowing Adam would be there. You're the bravest man in the whole of time."

The Doctor's face was still sad. "But, why do I feel so guilty?"

Jaqui looked at Adam, seeing a flash of green passing through his own eyes at the sight of him. "Because he's trying to control you."

The Doctor tensely turned back to Adam. He then understood what Jaqui meant. Adam had been trying to get to his mind all the time they'd been talking. He saw his whole life pass by rapidly before his eyes as green flashes of light tried to invade his memories. The Doctor snapped out of it once again with a big violent war shout that sent Adam to the ground gasping for air.

The Doctor turned around to Jaqui, wiping the tracks of his tears and unexpectedly hugged him tightly.

"Thank you," the Doctor murmured.

"No probs," Jaqui replied.

Adam weakly, but gaining strength stood up and raised his arm up. Jaqui saw Adam and with a brave notion for the Doctor being able to save the world, he pushed the Doctor away as Adam shot a ray of green towards them, hitting Jaqui fully and making him disappear.

The Doctor just watched in shock, not really understanding what had been happening, but he got a glimpse in his mind of what had Jaqui did: he pushed him to save his life.

The Doctor, now infuriated stood up and pushed Adam by the shoulders.

"Why did you do that?" the Doctor yelled. "Why did you do that?"

The Doctor looked around, seeing the people around them watching them, now horrified looks on their faces. They were running away from the scene now. Adam just kept on grinning at him, no benevolent thoughts in that mind of his. Just as the Doctor saw that smile he just ran away.

"Yes, Doctor," Adam called back at him. "Just run away again."

The Doctor stopped at the Eiffel Tower's foot, panting, gasping for air, taking Adam's words in deeper and taking its meaning: how he was such a coward. The Doctor, all serious and enraged, turned around to look back at Adam.

"I'm not going to run away this time," he yelled, determined. "You hear me? I won't run away this time!"

"Ooh, acting like a hero now, are we?" Adam teased.

The Doctor stood straight and confident with himself shouted back.

"Adam, I may be a coward. But this time, this coward in me is going to stop you from taking any more lives!" The Doctor started to pound at his chest firmly. "I'm going to stop you no matter what! The Oncoming Storm is coming for you!"

"Well, then." Adam crossed his arms. "Let's see your first move."

The Doctor just stood there. He really didn't know what to do…

"Well," Adam clenched his hands, a green flash of light going through his eyes, "if you don't mind, I'd like to take that first move."

Adam opened his right hand and pushed it forward. The wind formed the shape of his hand, getting bigger in size and turning into a greenish colour. The Doctor crouched down to his feet as the hand hit hard at the Eiffel Tower, destroying it completely. People screamed, running away from the building as it fell on top of them, killing them all. The Doctor stood up again, looking around himself, seeing disaster. And not far away from there, he saw Gwen, watching all of this.

"Gwen, get out of there!" the Doctor shouted. But Gwen didn't seem to understand him. "Right, she doesn't' understand me..."

Gwen just stood there impassively, the Doctor noticed. He frowned as she tilted her head at one side, her eyes wide open and white.

"Oh, Gwen!" Adam exclaimed. "You came just in time!"

The Doctor looked back at Adam as he walked towards Gwen.

"Stay away from her!" the Doctor yelled, infuriated. "I won't let you do anything to her."

Adam reached Gwen and tapped her cheek. She didn't seem to notice. He smiled staring back at the Doctor.

"Poor Gwen, back into her own world." He took her by the arms, leaning his chin in her head. "She's feeling the power of the Rift and it's too much for her. Her ancestor's powers are kicking in, don't you think, Doctor?" The Doctor stared at Gwen, sadly. "Well, we can't be sentimental in front of all these people, can we? We better get to a quiet place."

Adam snapped his fingers. By the time Jack and Ianto got to the Eiffel Tower, Adam, the Doctor and Gwen were gone.


	12. Toshiko

**Tour Eiffel, Champ de Mars, Paris, France_11****th**** July Saturday 12:40 p.m.**

Everyone ran. A mass of people, trying to get away from whet was left of the Eiffel Tower. Jack and Ianto ran against the mass of people, trying to find the Doctor, Gwen and that Jaqui guy. But as they went on, they looked up at the sky and everyone stopped to see too.

The Doctor stumbled but remained his balance. He looked down at the white ground, only it didn't feel like ground, it was like… alive? The ground kept on moving, waving forward, backwards and to the sides, as if trying to get him to fall. He fought back trying to keep up, as he struggling tried to walk forwards, looking for a destination. All around him, white was the only thing he could see.

_**There's nothing you can do**_

The Doctor turned around to see, but there was nothing, just the blinding whiteness. He kept going forward as the ground grabbed at his legs. He gave a grunt, kicking the ground away.

**_Did you hear me?_**

The white started to crawl up his legs, but he just kept going on, not minding it.

**_Can you hear me?_**

The white was nearly up to his waist, and then he started to really struggle. He tried to get rid off the white, but it was like sticking into his body, trying to get absorbed by his body.

**_As much as you'd like to struggle there's nothing you can do. You have to stop. You've got to give up._**

"I know you're there, Adam," the Doctor yelled. "I know you're trying to stop me. But you won't stop me from saving this planet. No one is going to die! Do you hear me? No one is going to die!"

Silence, but the white kept crawling up, until it covered his whole body, but leaving his head free.

**_Yes._**

The Doctor saw Adam appear out of green smoke.

"I heard you." Adam grinned at the sight of a helpless Doctor, trapped in the whiteness. "You don't need to yell for me to hear. You knew I was here." The Doctor thrashed about trying to shake off the whiteness unsuccessfully. "You know what I've always hated about you?"

The Doctor laughed. "You've never known me."

Adam placed a finger at his lips in a rush. "Wait, wait, I haven't finished." Adam stared at the Doctor for a moment before starting again. "You know what I've always hated about you? What has always got me puzzled about you?" The Doctor stared at him with a frown. Adam tapped the Doctor's head teasingly. "You're supposed to say 'what, Adam?'"

The Doctor sighed. "What, Adam?"

"How you always get to stand back up," Adam said. "The only thing I haven't been able to do in a lot of years because of your companion, Doctor. Because of them I have been torn off my own existence. I have not been able to enjoy my life anymore. I didn't feel anything when that happened."

"You didn't feel any pain, then why are you complaining about not feeling a thing when you were 'torn away' from your existence?"

"Because I wasn't allowed to feel!" Adam shouted. "When I was human I could feel. I could taste that passion humans feel about living, smell the stink and whiff of the streets of Cardiff. I could see her and I'd be able to touch her beautiful face, and I'd hear those words that would come out from her red crimson lips."

"Oh, so this is all about a girl, is it?"

"I was looking for her," Adam said. "I looked everywhere. When I came back, she wasn't there. But I've looked hard in every single place in the whole Earth, but I can't find her. Why is that?"

"Don't ask me, I didn't even know you fancied anyone."

Adam held the Doctor's chin tightly. "But why is it I can see her in your memories?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I can see her through your eyes," Adam closed his eyes, hitting his head in desperation, "her beautiful silky hair, her dark eyes behind black framed glasses, her crimson lips..."

The Doctor sighed. "Toshiko Sato, yes, I met her, I remember... She was in the Albion Hospital, when the Slitheen came to destroy Earth..."

Adam snapped his fingers at him. "That's her! The beautiful Toshiko whom I loved dearly. And Jack took me away from her."

"How do you know she did love you dearly?" The Doctor asked, exasperated. "What if you were the one who was in love with her and was hypnotising her to fall in love with you?"

"Oh, Doctor, you think you're so good confusing my feelings," Adam laughed. "I'm the expert on that here."

"This isn't confusing you," the Doctor said, very serious, "I'm showing you yourself."

Adam stared back at the Doctor. The Doctor knew Adam knew he was right, and he could see Adam's expression change from teasing to melancholy. His arm twisted, trying to hide the fear of Toshiko not loving him, as his hand unconsciously kept clenching into a fist. But he smiled unexpectedly.

"Well, Doctor." Adam grabbed the Doctor by his white covered shoulders and twisted him around looking down. "I will show you down there."

When the Doctor expected white to be there when Adam twisted him around, instead, they were in outer space, looking above the Earth. The Doctor horrified as he saw the whole Earth being plagued by green smoke. Around the whole globe thick clouds of green dispersed until nothing of Earth was left uncovered.

"Poor little planet," Adam sniffed, "covered in a thick cloud of green… green."

"Why are you doing this?" The Doctor asked, desperate to save the planet.

"Oh, you know, the same thing all villains would do it for: to get power over the planet, to invade the whole planet, to I don't know! There are lots of things to do to the planet when you're a villain, but I still need to pick what to do to Earth, still…" he snapped his fingers and the white came back around them. "I've got to first decided what to do with you."

"Before you do anything to me…" the Doctor interrupted. "I would like you to really reflect on what you're doing right now. Is it really worth this? All you want is to find the girl of your dreams, that's all isn't it? All you've got to do is to go up to her and say how much you fancy her, take her out on a date at the movies for a coffee or something that comes up to your mind."

"Why would I listen to you when you can't even do what you are suggesting to me?"

The Doctor remembered. "Where's Gwen?" he asked firmly.

There was a pause before Adam burst out laughing. "Is she your sweetheart now?"

"I'm asking you a simple caring question: where is she? Have you hurt her?"

Adam clapped his hands. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

And Gwen appeared from out of the whiteness.

"Gwen" the Doctor called excited and happy to see Gwen was OK. But… "What's wrong with her?"

Gwen didn't seem to notice him and her eyes were filled with whiteness. Adam approached her, waving a hand at her face and making funny faces at her, but she stayed impassive.

"She isn't responding…" Adam said seemingly worried. He turned around to the Doctor. "She doesn't seem to be able to hear us." Adam pretended to bite his fingernails in fret. "Oh, my Gosh! What's happened to her?"

The Doctor didn't laugh, all serious. "What did you do to her?"

Adam crossed his arms looking as if fumed. "I didn't do anything to her." He turned back at her, touching her dark hair. "She seems to be in a sort of… state of… seeing something… in the future?" he waved his hand at the Doctor. "I'm just guessing. But she seems… oh… it seems to be taking over her being and soul." Adam started to make little girly jumps and clapping his hands. "Oh, my god! The genetic family treat has finally come down the line! Remember that slave girl in Cardiff in the… what was it? 1800's?"

"Stop hurting Gwen!" yelled the Doctor.

Adam raised his hands in defence. "I told you before: I'm not doing anything. She's just too close to the Rift." He laughed. "Wait a sec! I'm the Rift!" He laughed even louder.

"Get away from her!" he yelled again.

"Sorry can't do that." Adam rubbed his hands together. "I need to see the future…"

He touched Gwen's head and she screamed out in pain. Adam took his hands away from her head amused.

"That was fun."

"Don't touch her!" the Doctor yelled again.

"Why? I think it is fun. Wanna see the agony again?"

"No!"

Adam placed his hands on Gwen's head again, making Gwen yell out her agony once more. She didn't seem conscious, even though she could feel that pain. The Doctor tried to get his white restraints off his body – they seemed to get less weak when Adam wasn't minding him. Adam removed his hands from Gwen's head, and Gwen seemed peaceful once again.

"Adam, you've got to stop this." The Doctor murmured, looking not at Adam, but at Gwen, worriedly.

"Yes, I should…" Adam started thinking, "when I'm finished with Earth, of course! Ha!"

Adam burst out laughing. The Doctor looked now sober as he could now see something happening in history he didn't expect or know, but lived in the Torchwood team forever still. Adam noticed him.

"What?" Adam ruffled the Doctor's spiky hair. "Aren't you happy? Of course you wouldn't be happy… the whole planet is about to be destroyed by my very hands…"

"It's not that," he said gravely. "Are you sure you've looked everywhere for her?"

"For who?"

"For Tosh."

Silence.

"Since when do you call her Tosh?" asked Adam suspiciously, rubbing the tip of his chin. "I don't remember hearing from your memories you'd know her that well to call her that…"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "You sure you have checked every single place on Earth?"

"What do you think?"

"What about Owen Harper? Found anything of him?"

Adam frowned, even more suspicious of the Doctor's sudden odd behaviour. "How do you know him?"

"Have you checked the cemetery for her name?"

There was another pause before Adam realized what the Doctor was suggesting. "Ha, ha, ha! You are good, Doctor!" he clapped his hands in admiration. "You are good manipulating my feelings."

"I'm not." Adam's smile fell as the Doctor continued. "Check Jack's, Ianto's and Gwen's memories. They must have something, shouldn't they?"

Adam refused to believe it. "No, it can't be…" he laughed. "I would have noticed it in the first place…"

"Check it," the Doctor responded, "I may be wrong."

Adam closed his eyes and browsed through Jack's, Ianto's and Gwen's memories with more detail for a long time, finding nothing.

"There's nothing, Doctor," he said. "You're wrong."

"Try harder," the Doctor said, still sombre. "They've tried it to tuck it away to forget about it and go on. Look deep inside their memories."

To Adam's horror he saw Toshiko's bleeding face looking up at Jack, as her lifeless body lied in his arms, as Gwen and him grieved for her death.

"No!" he yelled not wanting to take it in. "I refuse – no! She's not dead!"

Adam turned around and the Doctor saw as the whole whiteness disappeared, leaving the Doctor free. They had appeared in a cemetery. The Doctor looked back where Gwen stood.

Adam ran through the cemetery looking for Toshiko's grave. If he didn't see it he wouldn't believe it. If he didn't see it himself. But all the joy he had to see Toshiko alive and well faded into grief as he saw the gravestone standing in the graveyard with big italic letters: 'In memory of Toshiko Sato, whom we've loved and respected'.

"No…" Adam said. "This can't be!"

He turned back to where the Doctor and Gwen should have been but was gone. Adam screamed in rage.

The Doctor ran, carrying Gwen in his arms. Even though he was pretty skinny he did, he was stronger than he looked – what he usually said to himself with pride. He could hear Adam's inhuman scream echoing across the cemetery, and the sky turned black and cloudy. The cemetery seemed endless, as he carrying Gwen stepped across it trying to find the way out. Suddenly the ground started to move about, and roots from the underground started to hit at his heels, but he kept on.

Adam jumped and, as if flying, closed his hand into a fist and he pushed a fist of green towards the Doctor's and Gwen's direction. It missed them by a bit in front of them. Gwen was starting to come about. The Doctor looked at the destroyed ground to see patch of ground near their feet. And then Adam sent another fist of green, hitting them and sending them flying upwards through the sky.

The last thing the Doctor knew was that…


	13. The Meeting

_... it was dark._

_It was dark and cold._

_There wasn't anything._

_He was alone._

_But, then… there was something: a light._

_Some kind of light shining through and a silhouette that blocked it._

_It was a very familiar silhouette._

_The silhouette held her hand and reached for him, inviting him to come nearer._

_He could see a curved line in that shadowed face._

"_Get up, Doctor," Rose said._

_The Doctor didn't take her hand. Rose, understanding, put her hands in the back pockets of her jeans as her smile faded, turning around to look at the Doctor's duplicate, who crossed his arms watching the two of them._

"_Well, 'Doctor'" the duplicate said making quotation marks at his name. "You better listen to us this time, because you know if you don't the replica Dimension Cannon will tear the whole universe apart, as you know."_

_The Doctor ignored them, closing his eyes._

"_You can stop it now, Adam," the Doctor said, loud enough for them to hear it. "I know you're here and you're trying to play games with my mind."_

"_Doctor, this isn't part of that guy or thing you're talking about," Rose responded. "This is us, really. It's Rose, it's your Doctor copy…"_

"_How do I know you're not lying to me…?"_

_There was a pause. "I can't prove it," she responded firmly. The Doctor laughed and closed his eyes again trying to get all of this away form his mind. "But you've got to listen, Doctor. Our world is getting destroyed, as well as other dimensions and planets because of… I don't know what, but it's destroying everything. We need your help, and we know how you can help us."_

"_How come you can understand me and I can understand you?" the Doctor asked briskly. "The TARDIS… my TARDIS is gone. She died."_

_Rose smiled. "You know Jaquolei? He's not dead, Doctor. He was sent here by some guy a couple of days ago. He's alive."_

"_That's wasn't my question."_

"_You know that thing he had to translate languages?" the duplicate Doctor asked. "Well, because I'm awesome and the cleverest person there ever was I have discovered how to install it for humans, animals, Time Lords and other different species in the whole universe."_

_The Doctor couldn't understand all of this though. "But this can't be happening!" he said, placing his hands on his head. "I closed the breach between the parallel world and this world. You can't have… This can't be happening!"_

"_Remember when Gwen talked to you?" Rose asked crouching down to his level. "That was me. I spoke through her to be able to communicate with you."_

_The Doctor stopped and then he believed her. Adam couldn't have caught that, could he? Rose gave him a hand and with her help, the Doctor stood up._

"_The whole universe is falling apart, Rose," he told her. "And it's my entire fault."_

_She shook her head. "Nothing's your fault, Doctor. It's what's supposed to happen."_

"_This isn't supposed to happen."_

_She closed her eyes smiling with amusement. "You're right, it isn't." She took his hands in hers tightly. "We need your help to save the whole universe."_

"_Rose," the duplicate Doctor called from behind. "We haven't got much time."_

"_We need to stop all this from the point of origin, and that's the world you and Gwen are," Rose said._

"_But how do I do that? There's nothing I can do…"_

"_There must be a way to reverse everything…" she said as if suggesting…_

_The Doctor placed a hand in his coat and found a gadget in its pockets. It was the reversing time object! He had forgotten he had placed it in his pockets. He hadn't even noticed he had even placed it in his pockets. A big smile covered his face, but fell easily and as quickly as it appeared._

"_But it's not enough to stop Adam entirely," he said._

_And then, Rose's face turned all sober and sad, as she explained to him: "A life must be sacrificed for the sake of a million."_

_The Doctor looked sober. "I'll have to do it."_

"_She didn't mean you," echoed the duplicate's voice._

_The Doctor frowned. "Adam?"_

_Rose shook her head. "Gwen Cooper." The Doctor looked all shaken. "She has to do it herself. Remember she is a descendant of Gwyneth, the one who could see through the Rift. Gwen has that same gift deep within and can combine the whole power of the Rift and that thing in your hand and reverse the whole of time to the point everything was normal."_

"_But I can't let that happen!" the Doctor yelled. "Gwen deserves to live."_

"_It's the only way," she replied, shrugging in sadness._

"_Rose, time's up," the duplicate shouted._

_Rose and the duplicate started to fade away into the darkness._

"_Good luck, Doctor."_

"_Wait! You can't just leave me! There must be another way!"_

_But they were gone leaving him alone in the darkness…_


	14. Abyss

… The Doctor opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was that he was in nothingness. He rubbed his eyes with his fists, but as much as he rubbed it wouldn't make much of a difference: the darkness was still there. He looked around himself trying to find a way around, he waved his hands around and there was absolutely nothing in the space around him. Was he dead? Was death this way? No, wait… He turned around and saw a silhouette crouched down, with their knees to their face, and he could hear a sob coming from them… Gwen!

The Doctor ran to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, calming her down and telling her it would be alright. She clutched at her hair, big tears rolling down her cheeks and groaned as if in pain.

"It's OK," the Doctor said, patting her back, "whatever Adam is keeping us here for we'll be OK. I'll make sure you're OK."

Gwen sobbed. "Adam didn't take us here…" she mumbled. "I did."

The Doctor looked down at her with a frown, which she sensed. "How did you do that?"

"When I was seeing the Rift through my eyes and Adam was near me and touched my head some of his energy must have passed through me, which my mind must have absorbed…"

The Doctor nodded. "You're Gwyneth's great-great-great-great-great granddaughter. I should have known this could happen to you as well."

She started to cry again. "I tried to get us to Earth, but…" she hesitated, trying to catch a breath, "but there's nothing."

"You're still controlling your powers, Gwen, it's fine…"

"No, I took us there," Gwen insisted. "There's absolutely nothing left of Earth!"

"Maybe you took us to the wrong place."

"I have the whole of the Rift in my head," she protested. "How would I not know where we are?"

"You're still learning to control it at the moment," the Doctor explained. "You couldn't possibly get us there by your first go."

"But this is it!" she said spreading her arms outwards and around them.

"We could be anywhere."

"But look around you!" she said insistently. "Look around yourself, look at the ashes! Look at them! Really look at them!"

The Doctor looked around him, seeing nothing. "I don't see anything."

Gwen started to sob again. "All around us: there's nothing."

The Doctor looked around them again, but wouldn't want to believe it. The whole Earth, the whole galaxy, the whole constellation even the whole of the universe: there was nothing there. There was nothing to see. They were alone.

"It's all my fault," the Doctor murmured to himself, "all my entire fault. If I had been more careful… maybe this wouldn't have happened…"

Gwen kept on sobbing. "I wish I could do something to go back and make it right…" she muttered.

And then it struck the Doctor. "Gwen! That's right! We can rewind everything back to normal!" Gwen looked up at him, frowning. The Doctor hit his head with the palm of his hand. "I can't believe I forgot about what Rose told me!"

He started to look inside his pockets to find the gizmo he had kept this entire time.

Gwen tilted her head to the side. "What's that?"

The Doctor smiled. "It's alien tech. It's a control remote, like in DVD's, but not really like them. This kind of stuff just rewinds ones doings to whichever moment without having to relive the day again. Brilliant, isn't it?"

Gwen looked at him with eyes wide like plates looking back at him with an odd look. "Did you memorise that definition from a book?"

He stopped smiling. "No, I memorised it after telling Adam about it… So," he continued, "this is just simple, all we have to do is plug this gizmo to a point of origin from which has at least been once in Earth and… we just press some buttons and everything gets back to normal and Earth is save forever after!"

Gwen wasn't sure yet. "Will Earth be normal, like before?"

"Uh-ha."

"Will it get the Tower of Eiffel and Cardiff back?"

"Uh-ha."

"Will Jack and Ianto live still?"

"Uh-ha."

"Will the whole of humanity be brought back to life?"

"Uh-ha."

"Does that mean Rhys will be alive too?"

"Uh-ha."

A big smile lit in Gwen's face. "Then let's do it!"

"There's a catch, though…" he said, suddenly very sober. "There's always a consequence to every action." He hesitated, but Gwen was ready to listen to what he had to say. "The first time you saw the Rift, do you remember?" she nodded, not saying a word, knowing what he meant. "You said 'darkness will come and in the dimmest of times one will have to die'." She started to shake. "Someone's got to give their life in order to let a million, maybe a billion, and infinite people." Gwen started to sob, as she knew what was to come next. "With the Rift inside you now, Gwen, that power could expand the energy of this 'rewinder' and get the whole universe back to normal." She started to cry. "I wouldn't want to do something like this to you, Gwen, but there's nothing else we can do." She couldn't stop crying, and he understood why: she was about to die. They both knew. He couldn't blame her. He closed his eyes and sighed. "We have two choices: either save the whole universe by taking your life, or let the universe as it is and die in this nothingness surrounding us." She looked up at him, and he knew the answer, but he still wanted her to think carefully. "It's your choice."

"Poor Doctor, always giving the sad speech and getting the others to take the choice," boomed the voice of Adam in the abyss.

Adam appeared from the dark, a green brightness shining behind him.

"Haven't you ever wondered, Doctor, why in the name of word should she choose what you want her to choose: to kill herself?" He gave a big laugh, which echoed across. "Letting her take her own life just to save your own, isn't that right?"

"There's no other choice…" the Doctor said but was interrupted by Adam again.

"Gwen, haven't you wondered: why should you trust this complete stranger? Jack, your boss, isn't? He isn't a stranger to you, but you stopped believing in him and followed this fool instead."

"Don't listen to him," the Doctor whispered to her.

"Oh, shut up, Doctor!" Adam yelled. "It's you who wants to kill her. Haven't you thought maybe that that gizmo won't work, that Gwen isn't strong enough and experienced enough to get the gizmo working to its full power?" Adam laughed again in mocking tone. "Always taking the easy path, Doctor. That's who you are: the man who takes the easy path. It's your fault the entire universe is gone. It's your fault all your companions had left the TARDIS. It's your fault this is the end of the whole species in the universe!"

Adam was right. It would always be and be again his fault. Every time he had to make a choice: lose one person or the whole of Earth, a planet or the universe itself. But why did he have to always choose the easy path? To kill at least one and save the rest? Why couldn't he save the whole planet? Why did it always have to be one for the sake of the rest?

"Oh, stop being all quietly sentimental again, Doctor," Adam said imitating his face. "It's depressing." He turned to Gwen again. "You've seen this man, Gwen. There's nothing you can trust about him. Everywhere he goes: danger and darkness lurks, as if like a magnet. If you do as he asks, you'll just die. The whole universe will have died, and the only people who will be left: the Doctor."

Gwen started to think that Adam had a point. Rhys had died because of the Doctor. Cardiff had been destroyed because of the Doctor. The Tower of Eiffel fell, and many people died, and who was right in the middle of all of it: the Doctor. And now the entire universe had just vanished, and maybe other dimensions and parallel worlds in its way. There was nothing left because the Doctor had let all this happen.

The Doctor placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder, but she didn't look back at him, her eyes only showing the vision of Adam.

The Doctor, knowing that Gwen was letting Adam influence her, lent down to her ear. "Don't listen to him," he whispered. "Whatever happens, don't let him into your mind."

"Oh, shut up, Doctor!" Adam repeated. And with that, he raised his arm and threw a strike of green, killing him.

Gwen, startled stepped away as the Doctor's lifeless body fell at her feet. Her eyes wide open, at the verge of tears, and then Adam snickered, his voice echoing as he spoke:

"What a useless scam bag!" Adam exclaimed, walking around in circles in front of Gwen. "And to know that you believed every word he said."

Gwen looked up at Adam. Now that the Doctor died, she wasn't sure who to believe. Adam snorted.

"Now, Gwen, don't give me that look," he continued. "I know people have died and that the whole universe has gone forever. But you now have the power to make a better place."

Gwen's eyes lit with bright hope.

Adam smiled back at her. "Together, with the power of the Rift we can build a new better universe," he said with a reassuring tone that everything would be alright. "We have enough power to get the whole universe in shape and in a form that no one has ever been able to be responsible enough to do so. There could always be peace and no one would die."

Gwen had been smiling until the point he mentioned death. She looked down at the Doctor's dead body. "If no one is to die why did you kill him?"

Adam sighed. "He wasn't going to let us do this," he said, "and he wanted you dead. He said there was only one choice: to kill you. But there's always more than one choice.' Gwen couldn't stop staring at the Doctor. "Don't mind him anymore. He wasn't anything. Rhys died because of the Doctor. Cardiff was destroyed because of the Doctor. The Tower of Eiffel fell, and many people died, and who was right in the middle of all of it: the Doctor. And now the entire universe has just vanished, and maybe other dimensions and parallel worlds in its way. There's nothing left because the Doctor had let all this happen."

Gwen's eyes widened. When had she heard the exact same words?

_Don't listen to him. Don't let him into your mind._

Gwen looked down again at the Doctor, in his coat the gizmo, shining in hope. Gwen grabbed it and placed her fingers on the buttons. Adam looked at her with rage.

"Gwen, you don't want to do that," Adam said, staring with a green gaze, which tried to get into her mind again.

"Oh, yes I do," she replied with firmness. And with that she pressed the buttons.


	15. What the prophecy said

She closed her eyes as she felt a strong wind rush around her, pushing her around trying to make her drop the machine, but she held on to it without losing faith in what she most wanted in the whole abyss: to get the universe back to normal. No matter what the cost was, if it cost her death, she would let the universe live, just for the sake of one. She felt pain pulp in her head, rushing through her chest making a path through her arms and out through her fingers, as if connecting with the 'rewinder'. It was too much pain to bear. She wanted to let go, but she couldn't. She had to hold on until the whole universe was back to normal. She had to hold on. It was said that life past in front of you before you died, and she could see why. All the moments in her past started to flash in front of her, as she closed her eyes waiting for her to die. Moments she hadn't taken notice before since then but now could remember. The first time she had ever met Rhys. The first time she had been a PC. And she was reminding herself of the people who she most loved in the whole world: Rhys Williams, her parents and family, Ianto Jones, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, and Jack Harkness... her job: Torchwood. And when she was sure she wouldn't be able to take it anymore and her soul would leave her body, a hand touched her shoulder and removed the machine from her hands.

_Darkness everywhere she looked. Is this death? Is this the place we are taken when we die?_

_**Gwen...**_

_A whisper calling through the darkness, you can actually feel those voices and the darkness closing in into you._

_**Gwen...**_

_She felt breath around her, a cold breath breathing behind her, and she turned around: nothing there._

_**Gwen...**_

_The voice kept calling all around her: lots of voices, whispers. A little child's tone asking for her to come over, but she didn't want to. She kept turning around briskly and violently, trying to make the voices go away, as she felt cold sharp points daggering at her making her turn around to see nothing in their place._

Gwen...

_A familiar voice, suddenly calling for her, and she turned around to see the darkness moving away to give light a way reaching her._

Gwen...

_The voice, warming and welcoming, calling for her, increasing in volume and then the light touched her..._

Gwen snapped her eyes open, and light filled her vision. In the middle of the light, a shadow, a silhouette, familiarly looking like the Doctor's silhouette. She sat up, looking around herself. They were in Tiger Bay, Cardiff. She couldn't believe it; she was incredulously staring at her surroundings still not believing it. The Doctor patted her back amiably.

"It's over," he simply said.

Gwen broke into tears, sinking her face into his chest, and he caressed her hair, looking around himself seeing the rest of the people that had been standing by present to what had happened in the whole universe, not getting what had just happened.

Gwen entered the Torchwood hub excitedly. There, at the feet of the Rift Manipulator, Rhys sat, dazed, alive. Her eyes puffed with tears and she ran into his arms. He held her tight, not wanting to let go of her. She kissed him telling him: "I love you."

He kissed her back. "I love you too."

She broke the embrace, still excited. She ran around the hub, to Toshiko's computer terminal, to Owen's, the espresso corner and the medical area, calling out:

"Jack! Ianto! Anyone else here?"

But no one answered. Wasn't what she had done enough to bring everyone back to life entirely? She started to cry more, as Rhys hugged her once more, consoling her. And then her mobile phone rang. She answered it.

"Hello?" she muttered weakly.

"Gwen!"

Gwen's heart started to beat faster than ever. "Jack?"

"No, it's Andy."

Her heart was torn to pieces, as PC Andy Davison started to ask her too many questions about what had happened. She didn't want to hear him, she hanged up. She looked around the hub, bringing memories of the people who once filled the room up, with joy and fun and love.

"They're not dead."

Gwen and Rhys turned around to see the Doctor behind them, coming through the rolling door. He had his hands in his pockets and a grim face.

"They're alive and well," he continued. "In fact, they're in Paris right now."

"How do you know?" Gwen asked, her eyes shining with hope.

"When Adam took us away from Earth they were still there. Every single human in this planet has come back to life thanks to you: no exceptions."

She gave him a blank face.

"And I also used your phone to contact them," he added, scratching his head in embarrassment. "And I can tell you right now that I have not seen any pictures or any recordings in it while you were unconscious. Nor did I play any games on it." Gwen smiled at him, and he grinned back. "They're taking a little vacation in Paris for a couple of days until the weird happenings are sorted out."

"I should be able to sort that out right away," Gwen said and started to make her way to Toshiko's workstation when the Doctor stopped her.

He shook his head. "Humans can sort this one out by themselves."

But she knew what that look he was giving her meant: Jack and Ianto wanted to pass the time together.

"I guess that means a bit of a holiday for you two," the Doctor said with a smile, and looked at both Gwen and Rhys.

They both grinned back at him, but then Gwen panicked a bit.

"But won't the planet need Torchwood for us to keep the aliens away from Earth? They need us to protect them."

"I'll sort it out," the Doctor replied, "for a while. When I'm sure that Jack is back. I'll make sure he texts me, now that I have his number." He laughed.

They all had to laugh.

He knew the number from front to back. All he had to do was to press the numbers on his phone. But every time he was about to do so, fingers seemed to get paralysed. Jack entered the bedroom.

"Well, I'm getting the bubble bath up, but there doesn't seem to be any bubbles in it, so…" Jack noticed Ianto with the phone. "Trying to contact someone?"

Ianto turned around and nodded. "Just can't… It's something personal…"

Jack nodded, understandably. He started going back to the bathroom when Ianto called him.

"Jack?" Jack turned around to Ianto. "I can talk to you about anything, can I?"

"Of course."

Ianto took a deep breath – he didn't usually talk to any of his Torchwood buddies about anything personal. "There's a very important person I want to talk to, but I just… I don't know what to say…"

"I wouldn't know what to say either…"

Ianto looked at Jack. "I wasn't talking about you."

"Oh." Jack simply said, disappointed.

"I trust you, Jack," Ianto said. "This person, I haven't talked to them in ages. And I don't know if I should, but… I just…"

"Call them."

Ianto looked again at him. Jack was all serious and understood the situation.

"Family is the best thing to keep with you," he continued. "Don't waste it like I did."

Ianto nodded. Jack stood up.

"I'll be waiting in the bath."

Ianto flicked his phone and for a moment stared at the numbers. Then he decided and he dialled.

Jack entered the bath, and got into the water. He felt the soap touch his skin, and he smiled in thought. He had said at the beginning of that week that he was so alone, that he felt so lonely and… bereaved. He laughed at his statement. How could he be alone when Ianto was there with him and for him? Gwen was also there with him. He wasn't fighting and defending Earth by himself anymore. That anymore had appeared a couple of years ago since his first team member came into Torchwood. He had never been alone. And less was he alone now.

The Doctor walked across Tiger Bay towards a blue box in the middle of the bay. He stopped in front of it and looked at it tenderly. He caressed it and hugged it. People around would have thought he was crazy, but the TARDIS was the only family, home and friend he had left. He was glad she was still alive.

He opened the doors and entered the old spaceship. He got stuck into the control, bleeping at it as he smiled in joy of his friend's revival. Before everything had gone to normal, he had been killed. He had been dead. And now he knew how it felt. He didn't want to go back to that. He thought maybe there was something after a Time Lord's death, but there was just nothing. A Time Lord, Lord of Time, able to do anything, and he had nothing to expect but nothingness after his lives. He stopped.

Wasn't Gwen supposed to have died? Why was she alive? He then suddenly realised about what Gwen had said back in Angel's Icon, when she was seeing the rift.

_Darkness will come._

Darkness will come… Rose had said afterwards it wasn't _right now_…

_Darkness will come and in the dimmest of times…_

The Doctor's eyes widened.

…_one will have to die… But that's not right now._

The Doctor knew it had something to do with the prophecy of that lady… But no… he couldn't… It couldn't happen…

Gosh! He needed to get a bit more cheered up.

He set the TARDIS' console's destination and pulled a lever. He looked down at the lever that wasn't supposed to be moved. He decided: he took hedge sheers from out of nowhere, as if they had appeared by magic, and cut off the stick lever. And he felt satisfied.

He arrived to his destination. He looked at his screen to see where he ended up. Ooh… it seemed very, very interesting. He went off into the TARDIS' depths and for along moment didn't come out. Then he came out wearing a space suit he had retrieved from a past adventure with… Rose Tyler… He rapidly and excitedly opened the door and stepped on the red ground. He smiled at the sight.

"The red planet!"

He overlooked at a red paradise and walked on towards a base not far away from where he was, not knowing what was yet to come, or what was to happen after the next adventure that was to come.


End file.
